ARMENIA LOOKS SOUTH AND EAST.

Armenian negotiators met with representatives from Iran and Turkmenistan to work out agreements on the flow of gas and other products among the three countries, Yerevan radio reported June 1. The agreements–which anticipate the flow of these products via Iran–will be signed at a foreign ministers meeting in Turkmenistan June 24. A commentary in Moscow’s nationalist paper Zavtra (no. 38) suggested that this step was part of a broader effort by Armenian president Levon Ter Petrosian to escape from Moscow’s influence.

Stepashin: Azerbaijan a Channel for Arms to Chechnya.