PRESIDENT MESIC RECEIVES RUSSIA'S AMBASSADOR

ZAGREB, March 29 (Hina) - Russia's ambassador to Croatia said on Wednesday relations between Croatia and Russia were making dynamic progress, and denied that his non-arrival last week for an announced visit to Croatia's President was a diplomatic scandal. "There was absolutely no diplomatic scandal. There was, nor will there be in the future, any crisis in relations between Croatia and Russia," Ambassador Eduard Leonidovic Kuzmin told reporters in Zagreb after a meeting with Croatia's President Stipe Mesic. "Neither President Mesic nor myself mentioned the matter, which reaffirms that the whole story was blown out of proportion by someone, and it remains absolutely unclear to what purpose," said the ambassador. "Our relations are progressing dynamically and intensifying, and I personally assured myself of this after visiting President Mesic," he added. Kuzmin said his talks with Croatia's president tackled relations between the two countries and the situation in Southeast Europe. "As regards the situation in this region, our views are very close," Kuzmin said, adding Croatia's and Russia's "positions also coincide as regards ways and methods of preventing the possibility of a further deterioration in the region's conflict." The Russian ambassador announced an impending meeting of an inter- government commission which should discuss the development of economic co-operation and trade, including trade in oil and gas. (hina) ha mm