PRIMAKOV TO TOUR CIS.

Russia’s new foreign minister and KGB veteran Yevgeny Primakov will tour the CIS member countries to meet with those countries’ leaders and foreign ministers. Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced yesterday that Primakov has already scheduled visits to Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan within the next week. Primakov told the press yesterday that in scheduling his initial visits he was giving priority to countries involved in conflicts. At the CIS summit January 19, Russian president Boris Yeltsin asked Primakov to launch without delay an effort in "shuttle diplomacy" to settle the Karabakh conflict. (12) Primakov had told his inaugural news conference January 12 that he would demonstrate a reordering of Russia’s foreign policy priorities by visiting CIS member states as foreign minister before traveling to the "far abroad."

CIS Summit Decisions Show New Approach to Local Conflicts.