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Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev is expected to discuss the situation in Bosnia with U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher ahead of next week's meeting of the contact group on former Yugoslavia, a senior Russian diplomat was quoted as saying Thursday.
Interfax quoted the unnamed diplomat as saying the two men would hold talks in Brussels before the Dec. 2 meeting of the contact group, which is made up of Russia, the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
Speaking on Thursday to Russian journalists, Kozyrev accused Bosnian Moslems of provoking the Serbs in order to draw NATO into direct involvement on their side, according to Reuters.
"The Moslem side launched its latest offensive with the clear intention of involving NATO and other third forces on its side, achieving the lifting of the arms embargo, and of course ensuring air strikes," Reuters quoted him as saying.
The foreign minister also warned NATO against deeper military involvement in Bosnia, raising the specter of another Afghanistan or Vietnam.
"The Bosnian conflict does not have a military solution," Interfax quoted him as saying. "Any attempts to resort to it draw in third parties. As a result we will get a second Afghanistan or Vietnam."
Russia has not directly condemned NATO's recent strikes against Bosnian and Croatian Serbs attacking the UN safe haven of Bihac. But the Foreign Ministry has made it clear it does not want to see the attacks escalated.
Air force chief Pyotr Deinekin said Thursday he opposed air strikes by both NATO and Serb forces because they caused unnecessary civilian casualties, Reuters reported.
Kozyrev said he would go to Belgrade to meet Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic after his talks Friday and Saturday in Bonn with German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel.
"The most important element here is the position of Belgrade, which is now standing in defense of peace and a peaceful resolution of the conflict," Kozyrev said.
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