YELTSIN POSTPONES SUMMITS IN KAZAKHSTAN.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin yesterday postponed his official visit to Kazakhstan and the summit of the CIS Customs Union. The two events were planned to have been held in Astana and Almaty from September 8 through September 10. They are now tentatively rescheduled for October. Yeltsin cited the internal situation in Russia as the justification for the postponement. Moscow’s request came on a 24-hour notice in a telephone call from Yeltsin to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev. Just hours before that call, Russia’s ambassador to Kazakhstan, Valery Nikolaenko, issued a detailed preview of the visit and of ten agreements that were supposed to have been signed. (Itar-Tass and other Russian agencies, September 7) This is the fourth time in the space of one year that Yeltsin has postponed his visit to Kazakhstan. The Yeltsin-Nazarbaev meeting in July in Moscow left major issues unresolved. (See the Monitor, July 9; and the Fortnight in Review, July 10)–VS

NAZARBAEV STRESSES INDEPENDENCE FROM RUSSIA.