YELTSIN POSTPONES VISIT TO UKRAINE SINE DIE.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma announced yesterday that his Russian counterpart, Boris Yeltsin, has postponed his planned visit to Ukraine. The two presidents were to have met in Crimea for an informal, “no-neckties” summit this month. However, Yeltsin earlier this month asked to have the visit rescheduled to July. Yesterday, the Kremlin announced that Yeltsin would visit Russian regions and take vacation in July. No new date has been set for a meeting with Kuchma. (DINAU, June 26; Itar-Tass, June 25). Kuchma and Yeltsin had agreed on May 28 to hold this informal summit in order to address the differences that came up during Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov’s May 27-28 visit to Kyiv (see the Monitor, May 29). Yeltsin has also just postponed a scheduled official visit to Kazakhstan amid differences of views (see Central Asia section below).

SHEVARDNADZE PLAYS DOWN AJAR CHALLENGE.