IMF TALKS:

With large foreign-debt payments falling due in April and May, talks with the International Monetary Fund have taken on new urgency. After Yevgeny Primakov called IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus to discuss the situation, the IMF representative in Moscow told the press that “progress has been identified on outstanding issues.” Primakov also took advantage of a trip by former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to Washington to have Chernomyrdin deliver a letter on financial issues to Vice President Al Gore. An IMF mission arrived in Moscow March 11. Primakov and Gore will meet in Washington March 23-25.