BOSNIAN PRIME MINISTER MEETS CHERNOMYRDIN.

Publication: Monitor Volume: 1 Issue: 105

Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic yesterday said he had won a pledge from Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to restore gas supplies to Sarajevo, and had in general discussed with him the crisis in Bosnia and possible post-crisis reconstruction. He described his talks with Chernomyrdin as "detailed and fruitful." (3)

The talks principally tackled preparations for a meeting of the international Contact Group (Russia, the U.S., Britain, France and Germany), expected to meet in Moscow-for the first time-at the end of next week. Last week in New York, Russia welcomed the deal on a political settlement in Bosnia struck by Bosnia, Croatia and rump Yugoslavia. But Moscow is also seeking a bigger role in resolving the conflict and is suspicious of plans to replace U.N. peacekeepers in Bosnia with NATO forces. Gas supplies to Sarajevo were suspended last summer at the request of the Bosnian government because the separatist Serbs were diverting all the gas for their own use and none was reaching Sarajevo. Russia had been delaying resumption of delivery because the city gas company owed it some $100 million.

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