TROOP AGREEMENT.

The United States and Russia agreed yesterday that Russian troops could serve in a planned multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia in an auxiliary operation without being under direct NATO command. US Defense Secretary William Perry and Russian defense minister Pavel Grachev told reporters the Russians would serve under NATO commander George Joulwan, a four-star US general, but would get their orders through Colonel General Leonti Shevstov, a three-star Russian general serving under him. (6)

The face-saving deal would allow a Russian paratroop brigade of some 2,000-3,000 troops to serve with a US military division which would help police a hoped-for peace agreement in Bosnia along with up to 60,000 NATO and other troops. The plan preserves unity of command, a US desideratum, but does not require the Russian forces to be under NATO. Still unresolved is the key question of "political control" of the overall peacekeeping operation. Russia wants to see UN involvement in the NATO mission if peace is reached in Bosnia.

Rallies.