Igor

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen will meet with top Russian officials in Helsinki, Finland, this week to try to end an embarrassing standoff between NATO and Russian troops at the Pristina airport in Kosovo.Four days after 200 Russian troops stunned the West by moving into Kosovo without an agreement with NATO, their presence in what was supposed to be the alliance headquarters in Pristina continued to preoccupy the highest levels of government in Washington and Moscow.

Today in history: April 6In 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized by Joseph Smith in Fayette, N.Y.In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee.In 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.In 1909, explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson became the first men to reach the North Pole. The claim, disputed by skeptics, was upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation.In 1971, Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky died in New York City.

MOSCOW -- While Igor and Tatyana Myshkin were taking off their boots and putting on their hosts' slippers, the family was clearing the supper dishes from the kitchen table, making way for the operation.The family's two children went into a bedroom and turned their music up loud. They said they didn't want to hear the cat's screams.There was only one scream. It came from Tatyana. A moment before the little gray cat succumbed to the anesthetic, terror descended and she tried desperately to escape, badly clawing Tatyana, who had been gently holding and stroking her.An hour later, the cat had been spayed and the Myshkins were packing up their instruments, heading for their next appointment.

MOSCOW -- Flying into Yugoslavia today in hopes of finding a means to halt the NATO airstrikes, Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov is trying to resuscitate Russian influence in the Balkans and just maybe pull off a diplomatic coup.Expectations here are low, but after Moscow's failure last week to prevent the NATO attack, Primakov has little to lose by trying."Everyone understands his mission is almost impossible," Vyacheslav Nikonov, head of the Polity Foundation, said yesterday.If a solution eludes Primakov today, Nikonov said, "it cannot be regarded as a failure of Russian diplomacy."

MOSCOW -- Sidelined and unhappy about it, Russian politicians heaped denunciations on the United States and Britain yesterday for the attack on Iraq, and Moscow recalled its ambassador for "consultations."President Boris N. Yeltsin said Washington and London had "flagrantly violated" the United Nations charter. Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov called the attack "disgraceful." With just one dissenter, the Duma passed a resolution denouncing the United States. The Communist Party leader, Gennady Zyuganov, called for "a global front against "warmongers.

In the gripping Belgian film "La Promesse," the camera follows a middle-aged entrepreneur named Roger as he introduces his 15-year-old son Igor into the family business. It's not dairy farming or shoemaking or cooking up Belgian waffles. Roger & Son specialize in the exploitation of illegal immigrants.For a fee -- an exorbitant one, of course -- Roger (Olivier Gourmet) secrets the illegals into the grimy industrial city of Seraing and provides them with falsified documents, decrepit housing and menial employment at dishearteningly low wages.

Until the bank called that day in 1995, Kurt Jakobson figured Igor Fyodorov was just talking big.A former Environmental Protection Agency engineer who ran a tax-preparation business from his Pikesville home, Jakobson had helped the Russian immigrant with the intricacies of American taxes and corporate charters. He dismissed as so much hot air Fyodorov's assurances that lucrative deals were just around the corner.Then Jakobson's Ellicott City bank phoned."They said, '$2 million just arrived in your account,' " Jakobson recalls.

Bobby Wren is a tough little battler who would probably rather have four molars yanked out in one session with a dentist than sit and watch a hockey game from the bench.So yesterday, when he got a chance to take a regular shift against Syracuse from the first period on, he was happy but not so happy.The opening arrived for Wren when teammate Valeri Karpov was hit in the face by a tumbling player's skate, resulting in gashes requiring 70 stitches, and he certainly didn't want to get his chance that way.But, with opportunity knocking, Wren was there to answer.

Chances are few teams throughout professional hockey this season have started a game in more ragged fashion than the Kentucky Thoroughblades did yesterday. The old line about a team showing up at 1: 30 for a game getting under way at 1 o'clock fit the situation.Kentucky recovered from a couple of two-goal deficits and posted a 6-4 victory by holding the Bandits scoreless over the last half of the game.The Bandits got a goal in the first minute and another at 3: 04, but it was what they didn't do when the opportunity presented itself that was noteworthy.

BaseballBrewers: All coaches will return in 1997.Cardinals: Added P John Frascatore to 40-man roster.Expos: P Pedro Martinez appealed eight-game suspension for charging mound.BasketballHawks: Signed G Eldridge Recasner.Nets: Named Kenny Gattison assistant coach. Signed G Trevor Ruffin and C William Cunningham.FootballColts: Signed LB Phil Yeboah-Kodie to practice squad.GolfPGA Tour: Caddie Mike "Fluff" Cowan left Peter Jacobsen after 18 years to work for Tiger Woods.HockeyCoyotes: LW Igor Korolev left camp.