CHERNOMYRDIN IN WASHINGTON; CHRISTOPHER TO MEET PRIMAKOV.

The Yeltsin-Clinton conversation launched what is to be a flurry of activity between Moscow and Washington in the coming months. Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin arrived in Washington yesterday for a five-day working visit that will include meetings in Washington with the heads of both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The first two days of the trip are to be devoted to the activities of the U.S.-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic and scientific-technical cooperation co-chaired by Chernomyrdin and U.S. vice president Al Gore. Chernomyrdin’s overall task is to reassure the leaders of Western governmental and financial institutions that the recent ouster of several key reformers from the Russian government does not auger a retreat from the economic policies of the past three years. (3) U.S. secretary of state Warren Christopher seek parallel assurances of continuity when he meets for the first time with recently appointed Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov. The two ministers have scheduled meetings for February 10 and 11 in Helsinki, and again in Moscow sometime in March, announced the U.S. state department. The March meeting will involve preparations for Bill Clinton’s April 1996 trip to Moscow, where he will take part in a summit of the G-7 states devoted to nuclear security. (4)

Russian Prime Minister Confident on IMF Talks.