MOSCOW, March 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Ukrainian president's official visit to Moscow, scheduled for March 21, has been postponed over a mourning period for victims of three major accidents that struck Russia in the last few days, the Kremlin said Tuesday.
"Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with [Ukrainian counterpart] Viktor Yushchenko," the press office said. "Yushchenko expressed his condolences over the tragedy at a coalmine in Siberia's Kemerovo Region. The presidents agreed to postpone the official visit to Moscow until a later date."
Putin declared March 21 a day of mourning after a powerful explosion in a West Siberian mine March 19, which killed 106 people, a plane crash on the Volga, where six people were killed and more than 20 injured, and a fire in a retirement home in southern Russia, where 62 people died.
The leaders were to sign a cooperation plan for 2007-2008, the Kremlin said, but offered no revised date for the talks.
