At the top of their agenda were preparations for initial talks between Bosnian Moslems, their Croat allies and separatist Serbs, due to open in the United States on Oct. 31.
"This is the last important meeting before the proximity talks in the United States at the end of October," U.S. negotiator Richard Holbrooke told reporters as he arrived in the Russian capital.
"We look forward to very important discussions with the Russians, who are playing an important role in the Contact Group," he said.
President Boris Yeltsin's envoy to former Yugoslavia Alexander Zotov told Itar-Tass the two-day meeting of policy-makers would discuss "at least the concept of the settlement process."
In Bosnia, a shaky four-day-old cease-fire meant to clear the way for the peace talks came under pressure over the weekend when fierce fighting resumed in the northwest.
But the UN's Bosnia commander was quoted as saying he was satisfied the cease-fire was holding along 80 percent of the front line and he believed continued fighting did not threaten the peace talks.
Holbrooke called on all parties to the conflict to observe the cease-fire. "The cease-fire is not fully in effect in all parts of the country. We think a cease-fire is a cease-fire is a cease-fire and should be respected," he said.
The Contact Group meeting was to be attended by heads of political departments from foreign ministries of the five members -- the United States, Russia, Britain, Germany and France -- and Holbrooke and European Union envoy Carl Bildt.
The agenda will include efforts to define Russia's role in an international peace force being put together by NATO. The Russians have refused so far to contribute troops if the force is solely under NATO command.
Washington in turn has rejected a proposal by Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev for a rotating command between NATO and Russian commanders. In Bosnia itself, Serb leaders were locked in a power struggle Monday as the breakaway region's parliament, angry at battlefield losses, demanded the dismissal of generals loyal to army commander General Ratko Mladic.
A marathon session of parliament ending in the northwest town of Banja Luka early Monday accepted the resignation of figurehead Prime Minister Dusan Kozic as a political scapegoat for military defeats in northwest Bosnia.
The more significant demand for the dismissal of four generals by deputies of the ruling Serb Democratic Party appeared to signal the revival of a power struggle between Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Mladic.
The call for the removal of generals Milan Gvero, Zdravko Tolimir, Djordje Djukic and Gruja Boric followed charges by Karadzic that the military were partly to blame for losing 11 towns and 4,000 square kilometers of territory in northwest Bosnia to government troops and their Croat allies.
Last August, Karadzic tried to dismiss Mladic but had to back down when other generals pledged loyalty to him.
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