Izvestia, August 10, 1995, Page 1

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President Boris Yeltsin has given interview to the Japanese Nihon Kadzai newspaper, where he answered questions about Russian position on the solution of Bosnian crisis.

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President Yeltsin considers unjust accusations announced by the UN International Tribunal against leaders of Bosnian Serbs Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. "There cannot be neither the right, not the guilty part in a civil war. Such accusations postpone a peaceful solution of Yugoslav crisis and cause growth of Serbian exasperation," said Boris Yeltsin in the interview to the Japanese newspaper Nihon Kadzai.

Head of Russian state is convinced that the most important condition of solving Bosnian crisis should be total cease-fire and stoppage of all hostile actions of opposing parties against each other. In order to create a favorable background for solving the crisis, confidence measures are needed, including removal of sanctions against Yugoslavia. "Plan of the Contact Group should remain a base for negotiations between Bosnian Serbs on one part, Moslems and Croats on another part." Mr Yeltsin supposes. "The rights should be guaranteed for every part. This means also a Bosnian Serbs' right on confederative liaisons with Yugoslavia. It must be considered not in the context of recognizing Bosnia and Herzegovina by Serbian president Mr Milosevic, but in the context of already obtained right of Bosnian-Croatian Federation to establish the same relations with Croatia."

Commenting the recent decision of the U.S. Congress about the unilateral removal of the arms embargo against Bosnia, Mr Yeltsin stressed that such a step would represent unprecedented violation of principles of the United Nations and the whole system of international treaties, as well as real pullout of prohibition on arms supplies to the whole ex-Yugoslavia. "In this case we'll not have already any formal ban to help by weapons to a party," said Russian president. "That's another cup of tea, that we don't want it. Moreover, we are even ready to enter the Security Council for undertaking effective measures to strengthen control on arms penetration to ex-Yugoslavia."

Head of state does not consider the pan-Slavonic idea as a factor determining Russian policy on Balkans: "There is a war in Bosnia exclusively between Slavonic peoples - Serbs, Croats, Moslems. They all are close to Russian people. We stand for equal approach to all counteracting parties. That's another case, that against an anti-Serbian campaign released in the West and in Islamic world such a position could seem for somebody as a pro-Serbian one."

According to Boris Yeltsin, the UN forces must be engaged exclusively in humanitarian, peacekeeping activities, but not in the attempts of peace enforcement. "Every change of the peacekeeping forces' mandate obligatory needs a special decision taken by UN Security Council," Russian president said.