UKRAINIAN-JAPANESE RELATIONS ADVANCE.

On an official visit to Ukraine, Japanese foreign minister Yukihiko Ikeda told President Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister Lazarenko yesterday that Japan considers "independent Ukraine an important factor of international stability." The agenda of their talks included G-7 aid to Ukraine’s energy sector, possible Japanese investments in Ukraine, and the utilization of $200 million worth of loans extended recently to Ukraine by Japan’s Export-Import Bank. (Interfax-Ukraine, June 1 and 2)

Moldovan Defense Minister Defends Army’s Political Neutrality.