KOZYREV MANEUVERS.

Russia will cooperate in the search for peace in former Yugoslavia despite its strong objections to NATO air strikes, Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev said September 13, in an obvious bid to prevent his country from sliding back into confrontation with the West. Kozyrev told reporters that Russia and the West "disagree in the military field but…act together in search of a political solution." (3)

Russia’s strident campaign to stop NATO air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs has raised the specter–and fear–in the Foreign Ministry of being isolated on the international stage. Kozyrev seeks to steer Russia away from the slippery slope that could quickly leave Russia mired in Soviet-era hostility to the existing international political and economic order. He appears to see the Ministry’s work as that of helping re-connect post-Communist Russia to the historic concert of powers, where it may seek alliances and pursue competitive interests within an international system that it and all other major powers recognize as legitimate.

The Balloon Shootdown.