Russians Going To Bosnia Deal Lets Peacekeepers Serve With Nato But Under U.S. Orders

Russia and the United States agreed Wednesday on a face-saving way of allowing about a thousand Russian combat troops to take part in a NATO peacekeeping force in Bosnia by serving with a U.S. division there.

Defense Secretary William Perry and Defense Minister Pavel Grachev of Russia said they had agreed in talks at NATO headquarters here that a Russian brigade consisting of two or three infantry battalions could take part in the peacekeeping force this way without technically taking orders from NATO.

Grachev said, “I would have to draw pictures and show you diagrams,” when he was asked for details Wednesday afternoon about how the arrangements would work. Perry later explained, “What we agreed on today was a solution for the military control of a Russian brigade that would be operating in an American division.”

“If we get a peace agreement in Dayton, it will be very important to have Russian participation,” Perry said, referring to the U.S.-sponsored talks between Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian leaders in Ohio. But, he said, Russia and the United States still had to resolve the disputed issue of the overall political authority underlying the peacekeeping arrangements.

The agreement Wednesday supersedes a compromise the two men reached in Fort Riley, Kan., last month to allow about 2,000 Russian soldiers to perform non-combat missions such as transporting supplies and clearing roads, U.S. officials said.