MOSCOW ON CLINTON’S BOSNIA VETO: GOOD BUT NOT ENOUGH

Publication: Monitor Volume: 1 Issue: 74

. OnAugust 14 Russian foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Demurin praised US president Bill Clinton’s veto of the attempt by theU.S. Congress to lift the arms embargo on Bosnia. However he saidthat Russia wants more: "Moscow expects that this will beorganically supplemented by the important, still missing element:support for removing sanctions against Belgrade," Russianmedia cited him as saying after the weekend talks between US nationalsecurity adviser Anthony Lake and Russian foreign minister AndreiKozyrev.

Other public statements by Russian officials regarding the negotiatingforum for a settlement portrayed President Yeltsin’s proposalfor a Russian-arbitrated negotiation among the belligerents asnot inconsistent with President Clinton’s proposal for a generalnegotiation under the aegis of the Contact Group. However Russianofficials insist on retaining the Contact Group’s 1994 plan fordividing Bosnia 51 percent to 49 percent, which the US, Germany,and other Western countries now want revised in the Croats’ favor.

Russia Branching into the World.