U.S.-RUSSIAN NAVAL MANEUVERS SAID TO BE CURTAILED.

A spokesman for Russia’s Pacific Fleet said yesterday that an amphibious landing by U.S. Marines, scheduled to take place just outside the city of Vladivostok, has been canceled because of protests led by local left-wing political groups. The Marine landing was part of a broader series of joint exercises between Russia’s Pacific Fleet and the U.S. Seventh Fleet and was to take place on August 6-8.

The headquarters for the U.S. fleet was reportedly unavailable for comment yesterday, while U.S. officials in Moscow also had nothing to say about yesterday’s announcement in Vladivostok. Other portions of the Russian-U.S. exercise are reportedly scheduled to proceed as planned, although a local Communist leader who has spearheaded the protests said yesterday that he hoped to force cancellation of the exercises altogether. (Reuters, Russian agencies, August 3) The governor of Primorye Krai, Yevgeny Nazdratenko, has supported the protesters’ demands for cancellation of the marine landing, although he has praised the joint exercises as a whole. (See yesterday’s Monitor)

ALFRED SCHNITTKE DIES.