Red tape in Moscow and Western capitals has delayed foreign economic aid to Russia.

Most liberals were ready to delay aid to the former Soviet republics until President Bush was willing to free up money for unemployment compensation and aid to the cities.

In a plus for the peace plan, it will delay until January its $270 million request for contra military aid.

But it was Mr. Kohl who led the movement among European nations to delay aid to Russia after its effective devaluation of the ruble two weeks ago.

Kenya's nascent opposition group has welcomed a decision by Western donors to delay aid to Kenya pending economic and social reforms.

But at an evening news conference, Dr. Shevchenko bluntly rejected statements by some, including the United States ambassador here, that Russian secrecy over the nature of the gas may have delayed lifesaving aid to some hostages.

The K.G.B. and its ambitions are not the entire reason to delay large-scale aid to the Soviet Union.

The decision, announced late Monday, could delay humanitarian aid for weeks or months and affect perhaps 750,000 hungry people, United States officials said.

That said, the Clinton Administration chose an awful time to delay logistical aid to U.N. peacekeepers, and a worse time to apply a semantic sponge to crimes against humanity.

The convoy of trucks caused heavy traffic along the road to Bantul, further delaying aid.