LUKASHENKA ONE-UPS MOSCOW IN SUPPORTING SERBIA.

On October 9, clarifying and enlarging his October 6 offer to the Serbian military (see the Monitor, October 7), Belarusan President Alyaksandr Lukashenka volunteered to deliver “up-to-date air defense and antimissile systems” to Yugoslavia. The arms, Lukashenka said, would enable Yugoslavia to “fittingly rebuff” a possible NATO strike. He warned Western European countries that they should “not count on immunity,” but should expect to “feel the heat of conflict across Europe” if NATO intervenes in Yugoslavia. “These gentlemen have expanded to the outer limit since the collapse of the Soviet Union… Should they crush Yugoslavia, they would turn against Russia, Belarus, maybe even Ukraine; we would be the next target,” Lukashenka professed to predict (ORT, Russian Public TV, October 9). The Belarusan leader appeared to imply that the real stake in the Balkan conflict is the issue of NATO’s enlargement in Central Europe (see related story in this issue).

OFFICIAL PAN-SLAVISM RECRUDESCENT IN BELARUS.