Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin on Tuesday postponed a planned visit to Poland because he was unhappy with Warsaw's response to an alleged attack on Russians in Poland, Itar-Tass reported.


According to the news agency, Valentin Sergeyev, the head of the government's press service, said the visit, which had been planned for Nov. 3-4, was called off because Russia had not received an official assessment of last week's incident at the train station in Warsaw.


In that incident, according to reports, six Russian passengers who were robbed Oct. 23 were alleged to have been gassed and later beaten by Polish police when they asked for help.


"Russia demands not only explanations but actions that would exclude the possibility of such incidents happening in the future," Sergeyev told Ostankino television.


Russia and Poland had been expected to sign a deal settling their mutual debts. They also planned to complete a $2.5 billion agreement to build a pipeline to supply Western Europe with Russian gas.


The signing of the debt agreement was expected to be the high point of the visit. For Poland, the debts would be annulled, with the payment to Russia of an extra $160 million to close the settlement.


Chernomyrdin had earlier cancelled a meeting with Polish journalists in protest at the alleged attack.