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Russia sees ex-Yugoslavia peace summit in October

MOSCOW: A Moscow-proposed summit aimed at settling the crisis in former Yugoslavia is likely to be held in mid-October, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official told Interfax news agency on Saturday.

The source outlined a stage-by-stage plan for the preparation of the summit, to be attended by major powers, feuding Bosnian sides and the presidents of Yugoslavia, Croatia and Bosnia. The unnamed official said "it was not excluded" that the summit would he held in Moscow.

The official, described by Interfax as close to Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, said the first preparatory stage for the summit proposed by President Boris Yeltsin would be a meeting of the big-power Contact Group next week in Geneva.

The next stage would be a meeting of the five-nation group's foreign ministers at the end of August or early September, either in Paris or Geneva.

The Contact Group -- the United States, Russia, Germany, France and Britain -- will meet on Tuesday in Geneva at the level of senior officials, according to diplomats.

The summit itself should take a decision on disengagement of troops followed within 60 to 90 days by a decision to lift U.N. sanctions against rump Yugoslavia, the Russian diplomat said.

"We hope that the republics of Yugoslavia will enter 1996 leaving wars and conflicts behind," Interfax quoted the official as saying.

U.S. envoys are shuttling between Balkan capitals with a new peace initiative to end four years of conflict in ex-Yugoslavia.

The proposed U.S. plan calls for territorial swaps and offers a mixture of threats and incentives to get the warring parties to accept it.

The Russian official said the feuding sides seemed to favour the plan, with the exception of Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic.-Reuter