21.   Russia, which considers Serbia a Slavic ally, has strongly resisted the American position in the contact group, insisting that only the United Nations can impose sanctions.

22.   Representatives of the contact group will also meet in New York on Thursday at the diplomatic level, envoys said here.

23.   Secretary of State Madeleine Albright lobbied allied foreign ministers and went to Moscow to persuade Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to support a call by the contact group for negotiations.

24.   That meeting will be followed Tuesday with a working-level meeting of the contact group in Geneva, scheduled in large part in response to a Russian request.

25.   The Albanian prime minister, Fatos Nano, asked the contact group to deploy NATO troops in Albania to prevent the conflict in Kosovo from spilling over the border.

26.   The Bosnian government said Karadzic was attempting to sabotage an existing peace plan drawn up by a five-nation contact group.

27.   The contact group, which consists of the United States, four Western European countries and Russia, is running the peace talks here.

28.   The Bosnian Serb rejection of a peace plan put forward by the so-called contact group of five nations sets up a showdown in Geneva this weekend.

29.   The contact group does not know what to do if the Serbs continue to say no.

30.   The contact group can boast of a few, limited achievements.