A Little Bombing Is a Dangerous Thing

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The aerial bombings early in the week also miffed Moscow. "Air strikes," snapped President Boris Yeltsin, "must not be decided without preliminary consultations between the U.S. and Russia." Some of that rhetoric was intended to pacify the nationalists at home who still see the Serbs as Russia's traditional allies. But Moscow surprised many by its willingness to spread some of the blame this time to the Serbs. "They told us that nothing was happening and that they had no military plans involving Gorazde," said Churkin. "We have certain complaints against the Bosnian Serbs." On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, who had been consulting with Secretary of State Warren Christopher, arrived in Belgrade, which no doubt played a hand in the Serbs' sudden willingness to initial the agreement.

The Bosnian government remained wary that the lines of a military standstill might solidify into national boundaries, leaving the Serbs holding the 70% of the country they occupy now. "If we proclaim a cease-fire without time limits," said Mufid Memija, an adviser to Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, "it is a recognition of occupation." He may be right. "We are going to keep putting pressure on the Bosnian government to agree to a cease- fire in place and say it doesn't determine the final boundaries," a U.S. official admits. "But in effect it probably will."