GERMANY EXPECTS RUSSIAN REFORM TO CONTINUE.

German foreign minister Klaus Kinkel said in a Polish newspaper February 6 that Germany would strive to maintain friendly relations and economic cooperation with Russia regardless of the outcome of June’s presidential election. "We associate the process of reforms with a concrete policy and its results, not with individuals, "he added. Kinkel also said that Russian opposition to NATO expansion was based on Cold War perceptions and was thus "the result of a false assessment of the alliance." He suggested that Germany would present to Russia a truer picture of the Western alliance and its capacity to promote joint peacekeeping operations in Europe.

Baltin "Grateful" to be Relieved of Black Sea Fleet Command.