MOSCOW DAMPENS EXPECTATIONS FOR SOCHI MEETING ON BLACK SEA FLEET.

Russian officials continued to play down expectations for any breakthrough at the Yeltsin-Kuchma summit June 9. Yeltsin’s press secretary Sergei Medvedev, for example, told Moscow radio June 7 that “it is possible that Boris Yeltsin and Leonid Kuchma’s meeting will not resolve any practical problems over the future of the Black Sea Fleet. ” Moscow radio reported that admirals of that fleet had appealed to both presidents not to split up their command between the two countries, and Ukrainian officials said that they hoped the session would lay the groundwork for a Yeltsin visit to Kiev even if the meeting did not produce any final agreements on the fleet.

Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 1743.