STILL NO TO NATO EXPANSION.

Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev yesterday said president Boris Yeltsin remains opposed to NATO enlargement but is pleased with cooperation in the Balkan peace mission. Kozyrev told reporters that his instructions received the preceding day from Yeltsin personally "can go down as, ‘Yes to the partnership and no to enlargement.’" Kozyrev was reacting to the document adopted by NATO yesterday, which sets the alliance on a course for more detailed discussions on the realities and costs of membership with some of the 26 countries in the "Partnership for Peace" that have expressed a desire to join NATO. (13)

The document represented yet another effort to assuage Russian objections to NATO’s possible enlargement. Under the "Partnership for Peace" program, Russia is in effect a special "Partner" with little expectation of ever joining NATO. Other than the cooperation over Bosnia-Herzegovina, no progress was announced on simmering disagreements between Russia and NATO countries over arms control and reduction in the strategic and conventional areas and on other contentious issues.

Northeast Asia Develops Trade Zone.