MOSCOW SEES JAPAN TALKS AS BREAKTHROUGH.

A Russian deputy foreign minister suggested yesterday that recent talks between the defense chiefs of Russia and Japan had been an icebreaker that could raise bilateral military relations to a new level. Aleksandr Panov said that as trust in the security sphere developed between Moscow and Tokyo, the two sides could eventually begin exchanging intelligence on the military potential of neighboring countries. Panov also said that Moscow saw no political obstacles to selling Su-27 jet-fighters to Japan. (Itar-Tass, May 1) A senior Japanese Foreign Ministry representative denied April 29 that Tokyo was considering buying Russian weaponry. The head of the Japanese National Defense Agency was in Moscow for talks April 27-29.

Poland Won’t Pledge No to NATO Nukes.