YELTSIN RETURNS TO MOSCOW.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin interrupted his Karelian vacation yesterday and returned to Moscow a few days earlier than planned. It was not immediately clear why he had cut short his holiday. Some reports said bad weather spoiled his vacation plans. Yeltsin himself announced on leaving Karelia that “urgent business” connected with the “complex political and economic situation” awaited him in Moscow. Russia’s jittery financial markets have been falling throughout the week amid continuing labor unrest and fears that the government will not be able to realize its IMF-agreed austerity program.

Yeltsin is now at his residence outside Moscow, where he is expected to spend several days before resuming his holiday in another location. This seems to mean that visits planned for next week to the Arctic city of Murmansk and the ancient city of Novgorod have been abandoned. Yeltsin is due back in Moscow in the latter part of August, when he is to play host to various foreign leaders. (Itar-Tass, Reuter, July 29)

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