RUSSIA'S President Yeltsin arrives in Germany today for a two-day visit amid growing tension between Russia and the West over plans to enlarge NATO.
Three hours of talks in Moscow yesterday between Russia's Foreign Minister, Mr Yevgeny Primakov, and NATO's secretary general, Mr Javier Solana, failed to produce a breakthrough over the alliance's plans to accept new members from eastern Europe.
"A practical conversation took place. It was stated that positions on some issues became closer. At the same time, some difficult questions remain which must be resolved to pave the way for a mutually-acceptable document on relations between Russia and NATO," said a Russian foreign ministry spokesman.
Mr Primakov said last week that he hoped an accord with NATO could be signed on May 27th but, in an interview in the German magazine Stern tomorrow, Mr Yeltsin insisted he would only sign such a document if Russian conditions were met.
Mr YeItsin's talks with the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, at the spa resort of Baden-Baden will also discuss the fraught subject of art treasures looted by the Red Army in Germany at the end of the second World War which Russia is refusing to return.
Germany invested more than DM1 billion in Russia last year and it accounts for 17.5 per cent of Russia's foreign trade turnover. Today's talks will also focus on the use of a German bank credit granted to Russia in support of economic reforms.
