COMMANDERS OF BORDER TROOPS CONSIDER RUSSIAN COOPERATION PROPOSALS.

A meeting of the commanders of border troops of 11 CIS countries, absent Moldova, yesterday discussed in Ashgabat a Russian-drafted agreement on cooperation in controlling border-crossing points on "CIS outer borders." The proposals will be referred to the upcoming session of the CIS Council of Heads of State. In Moscow’s parlance, "CIS outer borders" denotes the countries’ national borders with non-CIS countries. Proposals of this type have until now been watered down or turned aside by countries which refuse to distinguish between "inner" and "outer" borders, insisting instead on full recognition of all of their borders in conformity with international law.

During the same conference the commander of Russia’s border forces, Gen. Andrei Nikolaev, and his counterparts from the five Central Asian countries discussed possible security measures on the Tajik-Afghan border in response to developments within Afghanistan. A Russian representative obliquely suggested at the concluding news conference that the six commanders had considered contingency plans to deal with a possible Taliban thrust to Afghanistan’s northern border. The commanders were said, in essence, to have agreed that any such measures would require political decisions. (Itar-Tass, Interfax, March 11. See also Central Asia section below)

Balts Concerned by Possible Yalta-Two.