Russia urged to cut off Bosnia Serbs

NATO defence ministers are counting on the Russians to use their influence to seal the border between Serbia and Bosnian Serb territory, to isolate the Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic. In return, they have backtracked on the eastward expansion of the alliance, in response to Russian concerns about Nato 'enlargement'.

The Seville meeting - the second of the new, Nato 'informal' meetings, unconstrained by the need to reach binding decisions - has been hailed as a success. Yesterday the US Defense Secretary, Willam Perry, issued an invitation to a third meeting at Williamsburg, Virginia, next year.

Mr Perry spelt out the Nato policy on future air strikes in Bosnia. Nato ministers agreed that they must be executed with greater speed, surprise and force, attacking several rather than one target. They must, he continued, be 'timely, without warning, authorised for multiple targets. All of these considerations deal with the safety of the air crews.' But it is still up to the UN forces on the ground to invoke strikes under the 'dual key' system, although once invoked, it looks as if the UN commanders will release control to Nato. Many observers believe that means UN commanders will be even less willing to request air strikes than hitherto.

Mr Perry said: 'The Serbian government has stated its intention to stop shipping war material to the Bosnian Serbs. We have incomplete reports that this has been partially, but not fully, complied with. We count on Russia as the member of the contact group with the best communications with the Serbian government to assist in the enforcement of this.'

Mr Perry returns to face the Congress over the Bosnian government's decision not to request an immediate lifting of the UN arms embargo. Dr Perry said he would like to request lifting the embargo now, but with a six-month delay. 'We want to use that time to move decisively to a peace plan,' he said. 'We can take full advantage of that six months only if Nato honours its responsibility to apply credible force.'

The 'Visegrad Group', comprising Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, was often mentioned as most likely to get early Nato membership. But Nato ministers also stressed the strategic importance of Ukraine. An early decision to admit the Visegrad Group could push Ukraine into the Russian sphere of influence, sources said. 'We have certainly not specified who or when (they will be admitted) and we're not likely to, in the near future', Mr Perry added.

The Spanish Defence Minister, Garcia Vargas, raised the question of the southern flank, which Mr Perry agreed was 'very volatile'. He refused to cite 'specific examples of particular programmes'.