9 March Meeting of Contact Group on former Yugoslavia

FIVE members of the six-nation Contact Group of powerful countries agreed to halt financial aid to Serbia, impose an arms embargo, ban sales of equipment which could be used for repression, and deny visas to senior Yugoslav officials. They also demanded that Belgrade start talks on self rule with the Albanian-dominated province of Kosovo within ten days, or face a freeze on Yugoslav assets abroad. Russia agreed to halt sales of arms and deny visas, but held off imposing financial sanctions until the next Contact Group meeting at the end of this month.