SHALIKASHVILI: RUSSIANS MUST ACCEPT NATO COMMAND IN BOSNIA.

Russian troops would be welcome in NATO multinational military operations in Bosnia, but only under NATO command, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili said. He was reacting to Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev’s proposal earlier in the week that future peacekeeping forces in Bosnia should operate under alternating NATO and Russian commands. To obviate any possible misunderstanding, Shalikashvili added: "Of course, to us NATO command and control is central to our participation." (1)

US commanders probably are convinced that the Congress and American public would reject out of hand the idea of subordinating U.S. operational military forces to Russian or international commands. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has its own problems with the NATO peacekeeping plan. A distinctly unenthusiastic spokesman pointed out in an interview in the September 27 Segodnya that it is not clear to whom Russian forces would be subordinated, and. who will pay for Russian peacekeeping expenses.

Study Likely To Irritate Moscow, Worry Some Europeans.