ANOTHER CALL FOR ARMING SERBS.

Viktor Ilyukhin, chairman of the Duma’s Security Affairs Committee, proposes that Russia provide military assistance including mobile anti-aircraft missiles to Serbian forces in Bosnia and Krajina. Ilyukhin, who made this proposal in an article published by the Slavic World agency, also suggests that Russia begin serial production of air defense systems for its own needs. (4)

Proposals to provide military assistance to Serb forces are no longer the exclusive province of a hardline fringe in Russia. Ilyukhin’s party, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, often adopts cautious and non-"adventurist" positions on international issues. Two Duma committee chairmen–Ilyukhin and Konstantin Zatulin of the Democratic Party, chairman of the CIS affairs committee–are now on record as calling for arming the Serbs. Defense Minister Pavel Grachev has also alluded to that possibility.