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...OFFER VARIOUS EXPLANATIONS FOR DELAY. Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Anton Buteiko said the postponement is due to technical and other reasons, not Yeltsin's illness, Interfax reported on 17 March. Buteiko said uncertainty about whether Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev would attend, conditions set by Georgia for its participation, and the Armenian presidential elections are the more likely the reasons. He also said Ukraine did not receive all the documents to be discussed at the summit. But Russian CIS Affairs Minister Adamishin said on 18 March that everything has been prepared for the summit and that all documents are in the appropriate hands, RFE/RL's Moscow bureau reported. He stressed that Yeltsin's health is the only reason for the summit's delay. BP

RUSSIAN, MOLDOVAN PREMIERS MEET. Viktor Chernomyrdin and his Moldovan counterpart, Ion Ciubuc, met in Moscow on 17 March, ITAR-TASS reported. The two agreed to start work on an economic cooperation program for the years 1999-2008. Chernomyrdin commented that bilateral relations have progressed to the point where "we can plan for ten years of cooperation." An agreement was also signed on protection of investments. Chernomyrdin announced that negotiations on Transdniester will take place in Odessa on 20 March, according to the Russian news agency. He will attend along with the presidents of Ukraine and Moldova as well as the Transdniester leadership. BP

TURKMENISTAN AGREES WITH RUSSIA ON GAS SHIPMENTS. Following telephone conversations that Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov had with Russian Prime Minister Chernomyrdin and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, at least tentative agreement appears to have been reached on renewing shipments of Turkmen gas to Ukraine, ITAR-TASS and Interfax reported. Niyazov and Chernomyrdin reportedly agreed on shipping 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Ukraine this year through Russian pipelines. But neither the price per 1,000 cubic meters of gas nor transit fees for use of Russian pipelines have been revealed. Both those issues were sticking points during negotiations in January, when Chernomyrdin and Gazprom head Rem Vyakhirev visited Turkmenistan. BP

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT DISCUSSES POLICY WITH LUKASHENKA. Leonid Kuchma and Lukashenka discussed the need to "regenerate" cooperation during a telephone conversation on 16 March, the "Eastern Economist" reported. Kuchma also told Lukashenka that the two countries should "activate" economic ties. Lukashenka has been critical of Ukrainian foreign policy and its refusal to cooperate with or show an interest in the Russia-Belarus union. PB

EBRD RELEASES MONEY TO UKRAINE FOR CHORNOBYL. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said it is sending some $30 million to the Chornobyl Shelter Fund, which will oversee urgently needed repairs on the sarcophagus covering the fourth reactor at the Chornobyl nuclear plant, Reuters reported on 17 March. The bank said the fund has received pledges of $387 million from 18 countries to fund the costs of repairing the sarcophagus. PB

EU OFFICIAL URGES IGNALINA SHUTDOWN. EU Environmental Commissioner Ritta Bjerregaard has pressed Lithuania to shut down the Ignalina nuclear power plant, which has the same kind of reactors as the Chornobyl facility and produces about 80 percent of Lithuania's electricity. In talks with President Valdas Adamkus after visiting Ignalina, Bjerregaard urged that the facility be shut down at the beginning of the next century. At the same time, she stressed that Ignalina's closure is not a condition for either the start of EU membership talks or admission. Adamkus argued that Ignalina no longer poses any danger to Lithuania or neighboring countries, saying "Vilnius is taking all measures to ensure the safety of the Ignalina nuclear power station and has already invested more than $100 million for that purpose already," BNS reported on 17 March. JC