ABSTRACT
The success of the Russian Communist Party in the December 1995 parliamentary elections made it the largest bloc in the State Duma and was a measure of the unpopularity of Yeltsin's policies among increasingly larger segments of the Russian people. Improved Russian-Iranian relations dissuaded the US from even trying to convince Russia to follow the trade boycott and political isolation of Iran. The leadership evidently agreed with Western officials that March was a propitious time to explore negotiations on a treaty with NATO, for steps were taken to draw up a charter on Russia-NATO relations not long afterwards. Russian "opposition" to NATO's policies in the former Yugoslavia "quieted" dramatically after it joined NATO's peacekeeping operations. NATO ambassadors met at the alliance's headquarters to discuss proposals for the new force, which was to replace the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) and whose mandate would end in December. Russia agreed to send troops.
