MOSCOW DOWNPLAYS CHINA RELATIONS.

A Russian deputy foreign minister reiterated yesterday that, while Russia’s strategic friendship with China is of great importance to Moscow, the two countries have no intention of forming a military or political alliance. That same point was made by another top Russian diplomat on October 15 (see Monitor, October 16), and seems aimed at reassuring Japan in the runup to the November 1-2 meeting between Russian president Boris Yeltsin and Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. Yeltsin is scheduled to pay a visit to China on November 9-11, less than two weeks after the Yeltsin-Hashimoto talks. (Russian agencies, Xinhua, October 21)

Nigeria Again Says Ukraine Helping Junta in Sierra Leone.