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BELGRADE - Parliamentarians from Russia, Belarus and Yugoslavia have agreed to set up a joint commission to prepare for Belgrade to join an existing loose union between the other two states, the official Tanjug news agency reported on Saturday.
After four days of talks between a delegation of the Russian-Belarus Interparliamentary Assembly and members of the Yugoslav parliament, delegates told a news conference the commission would hold its first meeting in early September.
It would be made up of 10 members -- four from the Yugoslav parliament, two each from the Russian and Belorussian parliaments and two from the interparliamentary assembly. The commission would meet at least once a month, in a different country, the delegates said.
The head of the joint Russian-Belarus delegation, Boris Bikinin, said the commission would work on resolving practical issues on the admission of Yugoslavia, which has no common border with either Russia or Belarus, Tanjug reported.
The union between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Belarus commits them to vaguely defined goals of economic and political integration, while both remain independent.
Lawmakers of the two countries invited fellow Slav and Orthodox Christian Yugoslavia to join the union as a sign of solidarity during NATO's 11-week bombardment of the country. The Yugoslav parliament voted overwhelmingly in April to apply for membership.
After both the Russian and Belarus parliaments voted to approve the bid, their interparliamentary assembly, which has no legislative powers, backed the decision earlier this month.
After that vote, the Communist speaker of Russia's State Duma (lower house of parliament), Gennady Seleznyov, acknowledged Yugoslavia was unlikely to be admitted to the union early but said it was important to give political support to the Yugoslav people.