MANY CIS PRESIDENTS SKIP MOSCOW CELEBRATIONS.

Only presidents Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus, Petru Lucinschi of Moldova, and Nursultan Nazarbaev of Kazakhstan took up Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s invitation to attend the celebrations of the 850th anniversary of the city of Moscow. Other presidents were otherwise engaged (see Baltic section below). Presidents Eduard Shevardnadze of Georgia and Haidar Aliev of Azerbaijan publicly canceled their participation owing to disagreements with Russia’s policy in their region. (Russian agencies, September 5-7)

Niazov Out of Intensive Care.