YELTSIN TO JAPAN . . . KEEP YOUR DOCTORS

Russian President Boris Yeltsin rudely rebuffed Japan's offer to send rescuers and doctors to aid victims of Sunday's 7.5 earthquake, calling the suggeston a ploy to "take advantage" of Russia's plight. "Russia itself can heal the wounds inflicted by the earthquake," Yeltsin added. If Russia accepted the aid, he said "They [the Japanese] will say: give us back the islands." That was a reference to a long-standing dispute between the two countries over control of the four southernmost islands of the Kurile chain, which were seized by Soviet troops at the end of World War II.