KOZYREV MOVES TO BLOCK NATO MOVES ON BOSNIA.

An unnamed Russian foreign ministry official told Interfax June 5 that Moscow has “not yet worked out its position” on NATO’s recent formation of a rapid deployment force, but foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev clearly indicated that Moscow was unhappy about it. Although he said that he was “not contemplating” a veto in the UN Security Council on Bosnian peacekeeping, Kozyrev’s reference to that possibility, his suggestion that NATO’s latest response to the Bosnia fighting represented a “dramatic departure” from earlier agreements, and his visit to London June 6 all highlight Moscow’s concern about a decision that could marginalize Russian diplomacy in the Balkans. (In anticipation of this possibility, Boris Yeltsin issued a decree June 1 setting up military attaches in Russian embassies in Macedonia, Slovenia, and Croatia, Segodnya reported June 2.) Also on June 5, Ukrainian foreign minister Hennady Udovenko said that Ukraine expects the UN to take “novel steps” to free the 58 Ukrainian peacekeepers now held by the Bosnian Serbs, Kiev radio reported.

Earthquake Costs Rise.