FINLAND, RUSSIA ANNOUNCE AGREEMENTS.

During a brief visit to Helsinki, Russian prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and his Finnish counterpart announced the signing of a series of accords aimed at boosting trade between the two countries and at encouraging Finnish investment in Russia. Among the approved documents were an agreements on investment guarantees, on prevention of double taxation, and on a new check point to be built on the Russo-Finnish border. The two sides also reportedly discussed the delivery of Russian anti-aircraft missile systems as repayment for Russian debts to Finland. Details of this agreement were not made public, but Chernomyrdin did stress that cooperation in the military-technical sector would continue between the two countries. The two sides also unveiled a new automobile–assembled in Finland of components made largely in Russia–that is to be sold on the European market. (Itar-Tass, May 5)

Chernomyrdin Ambiguous on Baltic Policy.