MOSCOW LOOKS FOR PLACE IN MIDDLE EAST PEACE TALKS.

A spokesman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that Russia would indeed welcome the chance to participate in talks, scheduled to start tomorrow in Washington, between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Vladimir Rakhmanin told reporters that Russian participation in the talks–“in one form or another”–would be “useful.” He suggested that Moscow is currently consulting with Washington, as well as with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, over a possible Russian role in the talks (Itar-Tass, October 13).

The impetus for the Russian action was a two-day visit by Arafat to Moscow last week (see the Monitor, October 9). The Palestinian leader reportedly used a Kremlin meeting with President Boris Yeltsin to extend an invitation to Moscow to participate in the Washington talks. Yeltsin and Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov were publicly noncommittal at the time, but apparently decided in the days that ensured to pursue the opportunity. Russia was a co-sponsor of the Middle East peace negotiations launched in Madrid in 1991, but has seen its influence in the region decline sharply since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Beginning especially with current Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov’s appointment as Russian foreign minister in early 1996, Moscow has labored to carve out a new role for itself in the region.

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE BANKERS MEET TO DISCUSS THE BANKING SYSTEM…