JAPAN, RUSSIA ANTICIPATE IMPROVED TIES.

The Foreign Ministers of Japan and Russia agreed in New York on September 23 to promote a high-level dialogue aimed at solving the Kuril Islands territorial dispute. That process is to begin with the November meeting in Krasnoyarsk of Russian president Boris Yeltsin and Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, the two men said. The same message was conveyed by a Russian Foreign Ministry official in Moscow, also on September 23. He said that Yeltsin would respond favorably to Hashimoto’s call for a warming of relations. (Kyodo, September 23)

Deadlock in Moldova.