The Voice of Russia

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May 31

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY more than 40 persons died in NATO air raids. Eleven persons were killed when missiles were fired at a bridge across a river south of Belgrade. And 11 more persons died at a Surdulitsa sanatorium, also south of Belgrade. An elderly women was killed when a missile struck her house in the city of Ripan, west of the capital. And in the Serbian province of Kosovo a missile hit a car with foreign news British, Italians and Portuguese journalists were wounded, and the driver-killed.
The leaders of the Serbian and Albanian communities in Kosovo have condemned the killing of three Serbs in a village in the south-west of the province. This is said in a statement of the Interim Administrative Council of Kosovo. Meanwhile KFOR servicemen on Tuesday arrested a Kosovo Albanian who committed the crime on Sunday. According to the press secretary of KFOR, the murderer of the three Serbs, including a four-year old child, has been placed into a prison at the American military base Bondsteel.

May 30

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY NATO planes launched another attack on residential districts in Belgrade and surrounding areas. Also bombed was the village of Bubani-Potok, situated 15 kilometers from the Yugoslav capital. Two people were killed and six injured on the highway linking the city of Prizren in the Serbian province of Kosovo where NATO planes dropped bombs on civil installations. More than 1200 civilians, one third of them children, were killed since the start of the air raids.
A delegation of the parliamentary assembly of the Union of Russia and Belorussia is visiting Yugoslavia from May 30th to June 2nd. The delegation is headed by the Chairman of the assembly's foreign policy commission Nikholai Cherginets. Members of the parliamentary assembly will meet with their Yugoslav counterparts to coordinate their positions on issues of mutual concern. They will also discuss how to strengthen diplomatic support for Yugoslavia on the part of the corresponding bodies in Russia and Belorussia.

May 29

An ethnic Albanian gunman has shot dead three Kosovo Serbs, including a child of 4. According to a spokesman for the Kosovo Force, the attack on Sunday took place just 100 yards from an American military outpost. At least several hundred non-Albanian residents of Kosovo have died in revenge attacks in the year since the NATO-led Kosovo Force waded in. Most of the victims are Serb.

The delegation of the Serbian opposition that`s arrived in Moscow seeks support in their struggle for power in Belgrade against the administration of President Milosevic. One of the delegates, - opposition leader Vuk Draskovic,- urges Moscow to dissociate itself from the current Belgrade authorities and bring pressure to bear on them in favor of the opposition in the run-up to general elections in Yugoslavia. The delegation is expected to meet the head of the Duma International Affairs Committee Dmitry Ragozin. Meanwhile, according to the ITAR-TASS news agency, the Russian Foreign Minister plans no meetings with the delegation of Yugoslav opposition parties.
ONE YEAR AGO NATO aircraft attacked numerous built-up areas, radio-and TV-transmitters, and bridges. On May 29, 1999, six civilians died in NAT0 bombing raids and dozens were injured. Some 100 homes were destroyed in the town Kuprija, in central Serbia. In Kosovo NATO planes bombed the environs of Pristina and Prizren.

May 28

The spokesman for the international security force in Kosovo KFOR sad in Pristina on Saturday that ethnic Albanian terrorists had fired twice at Russian soldiers serving KFOR in the population centers of Marina and Malisevo. There were no casualties in connection with the recent attacks on Russian soldiers. The head of the United Nation mission in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, has rejected by allegations the leaders of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Protection force that Russian servicemen discriminate against ethnic Albanians. Mr Kouchner stressed that all servicemen of KFOR fulfilled their duties professionally and in accordance with the resolution of the United Nations Security Council. He underscored that the international civilian administration in Kosovo condemned the attacks on the Russian peacekeepers and would take measures to find and punish the criminals.
ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY NATO warplanes bombed energy cities in the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade. The city was plunged into the darkness. There was no water at number of areas in the city. The cities of Novi-Sad and Pancevo were without electricity. The air strikes were carried out only on civilian sites: bridges, radio transmitters and food stores.

May 27

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY NATO aircraft flew the greatest number of sorties since the outbreak of the aggressive war to bomb TV and radio relay stations, water and power supply systems as well as railways. Three people were killed when missiles hit their homes 30 kilometers away from Belgrade, and another three civilians were killed in Kosovo. On May 27th last year air raids were again carried out on oil tanks in the suburbs of Belgrade. NATO missiles hit and destroyed an aircraft engine producing factory in the city Rakovice.
In Yugoslavia five Serbs were wounded in the city Kosovo Pole when a hand grenade was thrown at them from a passing car. The chair-person of the Serbian National Council of the city Sveta Grujic has told journalists the incident occurred when local Serbs gathered near a home and the local cafeteria on Friday night. The injured have been taken to a Russian hospital in Kosovo Pole and provided treatment. About half a thousand local Serbs have blocked the motor way between Pristina and Pec to protest against the act of terror. Large KFOR and UN police forces have been gathered at the place of explosion.

May 26

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY NATO aircraft delivered one of the heaviest strikes on Yugoslavia. TV transmitters near Belgrade, the city Novy-Sad and at least five other Yugoslav cities were destroyed. NATO rockets hit residential quarters in the town Uzice and the village Bujanovac.

A delegation of parliamentary deputies of Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy will go to the Balkans next month to prepare an alternative plan of a Kosovo settlement. The chairman of the committee for international affairs of Russia's Lower House of parliament Dmitry Rogosin said that in an interview for the Russian news agency Novosti on Thursday. It was his committee that initiated the trip. Dmitry Rogosin said the parliamentarians will inspect the KFOR contingents and meet with representatives of the Serbian and Albanian communities in Kosovo. A report will be prepared on the results of the trip which will be the basis for advancing new initiatives for a settlement in Kosovo within the framework of the United Nations and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

May 25

The separatist-oriented elements of Albanian background commit a growing number of terrorist acts againsts ethnic Serbs in Kosovo. One Serb was killed in the city of Vitina Wednesday. He was shot down dead in his own yard. A Serb educational center has been put on fire in this city of Gnilane. Six young Albanians have been detained on suspision of arson. Many thousands of Serb families have been forced to leave Kosovo in spite of the presence of a peacekeeping contingent.
16 Afghan and Pakistan nationals have been detained with forged passports on them, at the Alma-Ata airport.They arrived last night from Karachi. Kazakh security forces have told the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS that the 16 men were planning to cross Georgia for the northern Caucasus. The Kazakh security service underlines their connection with the Afghan movement of Taleban. It describes the 16 detainees as well-trained mudjaheddin.

May 24

Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said this in Florence on Wednesday before going into a sitting of a permanent council, which brings Russia together with the NATO bloc. The sides are resuming relations after a year-long fall-out over the American-led aggression against Federal Yugoslavia. In Florence, Ivanov said, Russia will raise concerns about the aftermath of that NATO war including damage to European security and failures of NATO-led peace-keeping in such places as Kosovo and Bosnia. He asked the international community to show understanding in case Russia has to carry out preemptive strikes against training camps in Afghanistan used by the TAKEBAM to drill terrorists for fighting in Chechnya. He said terrorism is a serious threat and must be expediently dealt with. Russia, he also said, has everything what it needs to crush terrorism.
Two Russian servicemen were wounded as Albanian terrorists opened fire at their barracks in the town of Kijevo in the west of Kosovo. A KFOR representative has said the incident took place after the day before Russian peace-keepers detained the former field commander of the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army Ramush Kharadinai for smuggling weapons. During the operation to detain him Kharadinai attacked one of the peace-keepers and received minor bodily injuries.
On May 24th last year NATO again chose Yugoslavia's power supply system as the main target for the bombardments. On this day a year ago Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kraguevats and a number of other Serbian cities were blacked out again. Water supplies were stopped and telephone communication cut off. A member of the Serbian parliament Dragan Milunovic was killed in the air raid in Pristina.
Over 28 per cent of the lazer guided bombs dropped by Canadian pilots over the territory of former Yugoslavia during NATO's military campaign last year - missed the target. This has been stated by representative of the supreme command of Canada's armed forces during the hearings in the lower house of the country's parliament. According to Canadian experts a hundred out of the 361 high precision bombs missed military targets, Colonel Dwight Davis who commanded the Canadian contingent of NATO forces admitted that in such a case harm might have been done to civilians.

May 23

The United States is actively working for either physical or political elimination of Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic. This is what the head of the committee for foreign policy of the Greek Parliament Carolos Papulias. Earlier he held the post of foreign minister. He emphasized that the Americans would welcome the use of force in the elimination of Milosevic and that they are opposed to a smooth change of political leadership in the country. The Greek politician says that the United States is actively interfering in the Balkan affairs, without having any idea about the situation in the Balkans. Americans have provoked Chaos and tension in the Balkan Region, which will last there for decades, noted Mr. Papulias.

On the 23 of May last year NATO planes again attacked power installations in Serbia. On the day in Belgrade electricity was supplied only for 3 hours. 14 workers were injured when a transformer station in Kolubar was raided, to the south of Belgrade. In a repeated attack on a prison in the city of Istok in Kosovo, scores of prisoners were killed.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has admitted that more than 200 thousand non-Albanians had to flee from the Serbian province of Kosovo. The figure was given by its representative in the province Dennis Macknamara. The majority of them fled after the Yugoslav army and police withdraw from Kosovo.
Assistance rendered by Serbs living outside the country in rebuilding Yugoslavia, now under United Nations sanctions, is of great importance in the moral, political and economic sense of the word. This opinion came from the Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zhivadin Jovanovic. In Mr. Jovanovic's words, 4 million Serbs living elsewhere have joined efforts to restore and upgrade the economy of Yugoslavia. They are seen as representing a huge potential for overcoming the consequences of NATO bombardments at an early date.

May 22

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY NATO continued to bomb exclusively civilian targets throughout the country. In Belgrade bombs were dropped on one of the electric power stations and on oil tanks. To put out of operation the entire Yugoslav electric power system NATO planes again used so-called graphite bombs that short-circuit power transmissions lines and power sub-stations. Ever more foreign embassies were damaged in the air raids on the Yugoslav capital. By May 22 damage had been inflicted on the embassies of Sweden, Norway, India, Switzerland, Spain. On May 7th several missile hit the Chinese embassy, killing 3 people and inuring 27 others.
The Serbs and Gypsies imprisoned in the Kosovo city Kosovska Mitrovica stopped their hunger strike only after part of their demands had been met. Some 40 prisoners protested against the 10-month detention without trial and against charges that they used violence against Albanians. They also pressed for a change in the make-up of the panel of judges that the head of the UN mission to Kosovo Bernard Couchner appointed to only Albanians. Now the prisoners have been promised that international judges will also sit on the panel. The condition of two participants in the more than five-week long hunger strike is critical.

May 21

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY since explosions of NATO bombs blew out all window panes in the Embassy of Switzerland in Belgrade. The compound was hosting a big reception on Switzerland's national day. Fortunately, no on was hurt in the incident. There was also some damage to the Embassies of Sweden, Norway an Spain. Two weeks earlier, NATO rockets hit the Embassy of China killing 3 people and injuring 27.

May 20

Escalation of violence in Belgrade is a threat to peace and stability in Yugoslavia. This is stressed in a statement of Russian Foreign Ministry official spokesman made on Friday. The diplomat pointed out that reports about the continued classes between police and protesters in Belgrade give rise to growing concern in Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry has urged the parties to the conflict to settle their dispute on the independent TV station "STUDIO-B" in the spirit of the generally-accepted standards with regard to the news media in the interests of Yugoslav citizens and observance of their right to free access to information.
On the night of May 20,1999, in the course of an air raid on the Yugoslav capital three hospital patients, including two women in child-birth, died when a missile hit their ward in central Belgrade. Several people were wounded. As before, NATO planes fired missiles at exclusively civilian targets. A chemical factory was bombed in a Belgrade suburb. Yugoslavia's largest electric power station came under attack in the city Obrenovac, 35 kilometers South-West of Belgrade. To paralyse Yugoslavia's power grid NATO had specially developed so-called graphite bombs, which on exploding close the circuits and put power transmission lines and power generators out of action.

May 19

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY the suburbs of Belgrade came under NATO fire. Missiles and bombs exploded at the airdrome of Batajnica and in Kukarica which is famous for its oil refinery and sugar factory. The relay installation of the Yugoslav radio and TV stations came again under heavy bombing. More than 20 missiles were fired on the west Serbian city of Valevo. An elderly woman was killed, and 12 people were wounded.

UN secretary general Kofi Annan has condemned the assassination of Petr Topolsky who worked with the UN mission in Kosovo and called for ending violence on ethnic ground in that Serbian province. This is stressed in the statement of the UN secretary general circulated in New York on Thursday. Topolsky, a Serb by nationality, was killed in the outskirts of Pristina on Tuesday. Meanwhile the Albanian extremists continue to persecute representatives of the national minorities. According to latest reports, 14000 out of the 19000 houses belonging to Gypsy families in Kosovo have been raised to the ground.

May 18

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY NATO warplanes hit out especially severely at the outskirts of Belgrade and the cities of Novy Sad and Nis. In Nis the western allies used cluster bombs designed expressly to destroy human life and NATO bombs and missiles knocked out several bridges along major railways and motor roads. Several missiles landed n a residential area in Vranje, in southern Serbia.
Russia is seriously concerned about Wednesday's closure by the independent Studio 6 radio station in Belgrade. In a statement to this effect made in Moscow on Thursday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed that the freedom of speech and of the press is part and parcel of democracy and held out hope that the conflict will be resolved in line with internationally-recognized media laws.

The Russia-NATO Council met at the level of Ambassadors Wednesday evening in Brussels. It focused on the developments in Kosovo. It declared the North Atlantic Alliance and Russia would be working to meet the appropriate decisions of the international community, and do, among other things, their best in a bid to protect the ethnic minorities of Kosovo. The Council considered plans to develop the military under infrastructure and joint ventures under research programs.

May 17

A Serb employee of the United Nations mission in Kosovo has been found stabbed to death two days after he went missing in Pristina. According to a spokeswoman for the UN office, 25-year-old Mr Piotr Topolski was known to have received threats from radical members of the ethnic Albanian community in the province. Half a year ago, Kosovo separatists killed a Bulgarian UN worker after mistaking him for a Serb.

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY there were bombing raids on Belgrade and on Pristina, the administrative center of Kosovo. Especially hard hit was the city of Orahovats in Kosovo. The commander of NATO's forces in Europe, an American general Wesley Clark said the bombing raids in which more than 500 planes took part would be intensified. The Belgrade newspaper Bomba said that damage done to Yugoslavia by the air raids amounted to no less then 100 billion dollars.
Yugoslavia's foreign minister Zhivadin Jovanovic has assessed highly the results of his visits to Moscow. He said that during his talks with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. A common opinion was expressed that all the residents of Kosovo driven out of the province by the Albanian extremists should be allowed to return home, and that necessary conditions should be created for that. According to Yugoslav's figures this refers to more than 200.000 Serbs, Croats, Gypsies and other non-Albanians. Yugoslavia's foreign minister also said that in Moscow attention was driven to how Russia's economy would help restore what NATO bombing raids has destroyed in his country. Russia will give Yugoslavia a loan of 102 million dollars and deliver fuel to a considerably sum.

May 16

Russia has confirmed its determination to contribute to the settlement of the Kosovo crisis and also to offer Yugoslavia economic aid, as Russia's foreign minister Igor Ivanov and economics minister Andrey Shapovalyants said, meeting with Yugoslavia's foreign minister Zhivadin Jovanovic in Moscow. Igor Ivanov says that Russia is advocating strict implementation of the UN resolutions on Kosovo, which provide for the maintenance of Yugoslavia's territorial integrity, the disarmament of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the return of all refugees home. Russia's economics minister Andrey Shapovalyants says that Yugoslavia will receive an 102 million-dollar-worth credit and that fuel supplies to the tune of 32 million dollars will be carried out there.

On the 16th of May last year NATO carried out the most intensive attacks on Yugoslavia since it started the aggression on the 24th of March. Missile attacks and bombardments wore carried out mainly on civil installations, power stations, railways, factories and fuel depots in Belgrade, Smedere, Nish, Kraguevats and Bor. In the capital bombs were droped on settlements and a gas-producing factory, and in Smedere, a metallurgical factory. In the city of Bor near the borders of Romania and Bulgaria, a copper mine was destroyed and a 6-7 kilometers-long cloud of poisonous gas spread to the neighbouring countries.
The situation in Kosovo will be one of the maim topics at the talks between the Russian and Yugoslav Foreign Ministers, Igor Ivanov and Zhivadin Jovanovich in Moscow later today. Both Russia and Yugoslavia believe that the HATO-led peacekeeping force and the United Nations Administration in Kosovo do not comply us to UN Security Council resolution on Kosovo. The resolution confirms that this province in Serbia is an integral part of Yugoslavia. However, in the past 11 months more than 200 thousand non- Albanians, mainly Serbs have been expelled. From the province on his first day of the visit the Yugoslav foreign Minister met with the speaker of the Lower House of the Russian parliament, Gennady Seleznev. He stressed the importance of Russian fuel supplies to Yugoslavia at a time when NATO has imposed an economic blockade against the country.

May 15

Yugoslavia's foreign minister Zhivadin Jovanovich has arrived in Moscow on a two-day visit, aiming to discuss with Russia's foreign minister Igor Ivanov the development of bilateral relations, some international problems and also the current situation in Kosovo. Belgrade and Moscow have repeatedly accused the KFOR, deployed in Kosovo, whose backbone is made up of NATO's contingents, of ignoring the UN resolutions on a peace settlement of the conflict. After the deployment of the NATO forces in Kosovo last June 300.000 local Serbs left the Province.

Russia and Yugoslavia oppose the destruction of the international security system that formed itself after the Second World War. This came in a statement by the Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zhivadin Jovanovich in the run-up to his visit to Moscow later today. He stressed that the two countries are united by the true adherence to democracy and non-acceptance of attempts to build a unipolar world. Jovanovic also came out for the participation of Russian businessmen in the efforts to restore the Yugoslav economy, which was destroyed in last year's NATO aggression against Yugoslavia.
On May 15, 1999 NATO aircraft bombed Central Serbia within the triangle between the cities Cacak - Kraljevo - Kragujevac and used cluster bombs as well as depleted uranium bombs in the attacks. The worst hit turned out to be the industrial area around Cacak. The local house-building complex and tool-making factory caught fire. 6 workers were injured during a raid on uranium and copper mines near the city Bor.

May 14

One year ago at least 100 civilians died in NATO airstrikes on the village of Korisa in south-west Kosovo. The victims of cluster bombs dropped on the village were mainly women and children. In other parts of Yugoslavia NATO aircraft again used graphite bombs which caused short circuit exploding over power stations and electricity lines. Electricity supplies were cut in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis.
The Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zhivadin Jovanovich arrives in Moscow on Monday on a two-day working visit at the invitation of the Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. During the talks the two sides are expected to discuss bilateral cooperation, the situation on the Balkans, primarily in Kosovo, and a number of international issues. This is Mr. Jovanovic's first visit to Russia in his capacity of foreign Minister and the first trip to Moscow after the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia ended. In an interview in Belgrade on the eve of his visit the Yugoslav Foreign Minister said he was satisfied with the fact upward trends appeared in the Russian economy and Russia's positions on the international scene were being consolidated. According to him, there is a potential in bilateral relations, which has not been used to the full. So, during the talks the two sides will discuss a possibility of using this potential more fully to the advantage of both nations. Mr. Jovanovich thanked the Russian government which did not interrupt gas deliveries to the republic despite the pressure brought to bear by, the West and Russia's numerous domestic problems, this certainly helped the Yugoslav population to survive during the hard winter that followed the NATO aggression.
Nearly five thousand Serbs held demonstration in Kosovska Mitrovica on Saturday. They demanded that the United Nations mission in Kosovo should free the arrested Serbs or begin trials immediately. About forty Serbs and Gypsies are being held at the UN detention centre in Mitrovica. They have been on hunger strike since April in protest at the release of ethnic Albanians who were detained with the Serbs during the rioting in Mitrovica. Two hunger strikers have been sent to hospital.

May 13

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY 15 missiles were fired at the town Paracin, and a student hostel was torn down.
According to the Yugoslav Committee on Cooperation with the United Nations mission to Kosovo, German KFOR servicemen have prevented a filming team of Serbian State Radio and Television from entering the Kosovo city Orahovac. The journalists were told to leave the German sector of the KFOR force and to never come back again. The Committee protested to the KFOR command and U. N. mission leadership about the incident, and released a statement to point out that banning the journalists from going to Orahovac sought to conceal the plight of Serbs in that "concentration camp" from the general public.
On the night of May 12th, 1999 NATO aircraft again attacked Yugoslav civilian facilities showering them with bombs and missiles. Four schools, a gerontological research center and several production facilities were destroyed in the city Nis. 15 missiles were fired at the town Paracin, and a student hostel was torn down. During just one day, May 13th last year, 8 railway bridges were bombed out in Yugoslavia.

May 12

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY NATO aviation used cluster bombs prohibited by international conventions.
Paratroopers from the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo and French peacekeepers have conducted an arms search in the villages Done-Obrinje and Licovac in the north of the province. A Russian command spokesman announced on Friday that the peacekeepers had confiscated from local residents large numbers of ammunition, 2 submachine-guns of Chinese production, three carbines, one pistol, 9 hand grenades and 3 mines. 10 people, all of them ethnic Albanians, were arrested.
On May 12, 1999, NATO aircraft carried out a new series of strikes on civil targets throughout the country. Two young people were killed in the town Vladicin-Han, and a girl aged 5 died in the town Liplian. Again NATO aviation used cluster bombs prohibited by international conventions. One person was killed and several others wounded in Nis in central Serbia.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations Sergei Lavrov has said that NATO's units of KFOR do not protect the Serbs against the attacks of the Albanian extremists. He spoke at a close door meeting of the Security Council on Thursday which discussed the results of the recent trip to Kosovo of a special mission of the Security Council. The Russian ambassador who was on the mission, called on the United Nations to take a decision on the time-table of the return to Kosovo of units of the Yugoslav army and police, as is provided by a UN resolution. Sergei Lavrov also expressed the opinion that without establishing working contacts with Belgrade it is impossible to normalize the situation in Kosovo.

May 11

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY, on the midday, NATO planes raided the industrial zone of the south Yugoslav city of Nish. A delegation of Yugoslav parliament was visiting one of the Nish plants, and a few lawmakers received injuries. Four civilians were killed when NATO planes attacked the city of Chachak. A Yugoslav spokesman told the international Court of justice at the Hague that the North Atlantic Alliance was committing acts of genocide. He demanded reimbursement from the countries whose planes were bombing Yugoslavia.

Exactly an noon on May 11 of last year, NATO warplanes struck a factory in the southern Yugoslav city of Nis just as is was being visited by a national parliamentary delegation. Several MPs were injured in the raid. Four more peaceful civilians died during a nighttime raid on the town of Cacak. In the Hague, a Yugoslav representative to the International War Crimes Tribunal denounced the NATO bombings as "acts of genocide" and demanded damage compensation from the aggressor nations.
Yugoslav foreign minister Jivadin Jovanovic will officially visit Moscow on the 16th and 17th of this month to discuss bilateral cooperation, Kosovo and some international issues with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. This is the such visit to Russia by a high-ranking Yugoslav official since NATO launched its 79 day aggression last March 24.

May 10

The Chief of the Russian General Staff General Anatoly Kvashnin has criticized NATO forces in Kosovo for their failure to achieve a peace settlement in the province. General Kvashnin said the KFOR international forces are doing nothing to protest Serbs and other non-Albanians living in Kosovo. Hence the situation in the province continue to deteriorate. The chief of the General Staff made the statement on Wednesday on his arrival in Brussels to take part in a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council that will focus on the crisis in Kosovo, NATO's military concept and Russia's new military doctrine.
The Commander of the international forces in Kosovo Spanish General Juan Ortunio has described implementation of the international community's resolutions on Kosovo as his main priority. General Ortunio emphasized that the province is an integral part of Yugoslavia. He also pointed out the need to comply in full with the so-called military and technical agreement between NATO and Yugoslavia. The agreement provides for the disarmament of Albanian militants and the return of Yugoslav troops and police to protect Kosovo's borders.

The chief of the General staff of Russia Anatoli Kvashnin regards the situation in the Serbian province of Kosovo us complicated, though NATO tries to present it better on certain points. In a statement made on the eve of his departure to Brussels today to attend a meeting of the Russia-NATO committee, general Kvashnin said in Kosovo an attempt is made to carry out one-sided stabilization for Kosovo Albanians alone. And they, on their part, are seek to form enclaves on the territory of the rest of Serbia.

May 9

ONE YEAR AGO NATO planes carried out attacks on a post office and a mar by theatre in the city of Uzhits. One man was injured as a result of an attack on a pumps making factory the city of Valevo. NATO planes also attacked a private TV station "Politika" in central Serbia. Mass demonstration were staged in the Chinese capital Bejing in protest against the attack on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade on the night of 8th May that killed 3 people and injured 20.
A secret report by prepared the American air force immediately after the NATO operation against Yugoslavia showed that the number of military equipment destroyed by attacks was over estimated by at least 10 to 15 times. The American weekly Newsweek which has found in possession of a copy of the report announced this. The NATO planes destroyed 14 tanks rather than 120, 18 armored whicals rather than 220 and 20 artillery pieces rather than 450 as affirmed in the report. The weekly says that the NATO air attacks were effective only against civil installations rather than military.

May 8

The chief of the Russian Central Staff Anatoly Kvashnin will take part in a session of the NATO-Russia Council which will be held in Brussels Wednesday on the 10th. Participants in the session will consider NATO's military concept and Russia's new military doctrine as well as the complicated situation in Kosovo. Anatoly Kvashnin lashed criticism at the operation of the multi-national peace-keeping force in that Serbian region because they had been conducted only in the interests of Albanians, not the whole of the local population. Meanwhile four people were wounded in the town Kosovska-Vitina when Albanian extremists brought a Serbian home there under automatic rifle fire yesterday.
ONE YEAR AGO when NATO had been attacking the Balkan country for six weeks already. On the night of May 7th, 1999, the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was bombed, with three people killed and 27 others wounded as a result. Washington said it was certain it all happened by mistake, although the American press wrote that China had been punished for condemning the NATO aggression and showing solidarity with Yugoslavia. On Sunday wreaths were laid at the destroyed building of the embassy to commemorate the victims of the raid, and candles were lit. China has again denounced the barbaric bombing raid, rejected American explanations and demanded that those guilty should be punished.

May 7

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY in a NATO air attack on the embassy of the People's Republic of China in Belgrade on May 7th - three persons died and over 20 were wounded. The same day several civilians were killed and scores wounded in the city of Nish on which cluster bombs were dropped - bombs banned by international conventions. There was an air raid also on the second largest city of Yugoslavia Novi-Sad where several residents were injured. Some 1200 civilians were killed and five thousand injured since the aggression against Yugoslavia began.

Over 200 paratroopers arrived in Kosovo on Saturday to replace units of the Russian military contingent, in accordance with the rotation program. They will replace the peacekeepers who have been in Kosovo since Yule of last year. A Russian transport plane will fly in today about a hundred more paratroopers to Pristina, the administrative center of the Yugoslav province. Russian servicemen take part in the KFOR peace-keeping operation.

May 6

Unidentified persons have exploded an Orthodox church in Kosovo. This church, situated in the Slovinye Settlement, at a distance of 25 kilometers south of Pristina, suffered during the NATO bombings last year and has been closed since. Though the international KFOR forces, deployed in Kosovo, should have protected it, no protection was ensured, that, as it appears, made it possible for the Kosovo Albanians use their arms and attack it. Since last year, when the KFOR forces were deployed in the Kosovo Province, over 80 Orthodox churches have been destroyed there.
ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY after the North Atlantic Alliance had marked its 50th jubilee late last April, in early May it redoubled the intensity of its air strikes and started using 300 warplanes daily in the air raids on Yugoslavia. On May 6th the NATO aviation continued hitting civilian targets. In the city of Nis residential quarters came under bombardment. Besides, the bombs were dropped on Prahovo on the Danube and Uzhice. Since the start of raids on March 24th nearly 1200 civilians had been killed and about 5000 wounded in Yugoslavia.

Registration is getting under way of the Serbian refugees who want to go back home to Kosovo. According to a program of the Serbian Regional National assembly, more than 5,000 Serbs are to return to Kosovo in the next few months. The administrator of the UN Civil Mission to Kosovo William Nesh has welcomed the program. The NATO aggressive war against Yugoslavia and violence by Albanian extremists have caused hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Gypsies and other national minorities to flee Kosovo.

May 5

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY Belgrade and a few other areas had been left without electricity. NATO planes rendered inactive one of the Serbian high voltage main lines. Bombs with charges of depleted uranium left without electricity 70 percent of Serbia. About 11,000 tonnes of explosives had , by last May, been dropped on Yugoslavia. That makes more than one kilogram of explosives per citizen.
Fourteen Kosovar Albanians have been sentenced to different terms in prison, on charges of terrorism, by the court of justice of the Serbian city of Nish which lies close to Kosovo. The 14 convicts took part in operations of the Kosovo Liberation Army which is responsible for many Serb killings. In spite of the introduction of an international peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo, the Kosovo Liberation Army kept possession of its hardware and attacks targets in neighboring areas of Serbia proper.
NATO's secretary general George Robertson met with Russia's permanent representative at NATO, Sergei Kislyak at NATO's headquarters in Brussels on Thursday. According to reports from the Belgium capital, NATO leadership wants to overcome speedily last year's discord, as it calls Russia's reaction NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia. NATO would like to resume all the programs disrupted a year ago and to open a NATO military mission in Moscow.
At the annual session of the European economic commission in Geneva, Russia opposed the attempts of the European Union and NATO to isolate Yugoslavia. The head of the Russian delegation Yuri Fedotov said that without the lifting of sanctions and drawing Belgrade into the process of regional cooperation - plans to build a climate of stability and security in the Balkans - are groundless.

May 4

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY NATO planes kept bombing Yugoslav power plants . Power shortages resulted in critical developments at some industrial enterprises and hospitals. The timely moves to turn on an emergency power generator saved the lives of 120 newborn babies in the incubators of the Belgrade maternity center. As many as 300 school buildings, dozens of bridges and three TV towers had been destroyed.
Russian emissary Vladimir Chizhov has told the contact group on the former Yugoslavia that Moscow is still calling for a political solution to the Kosovo problem and for the autonomy of Kosovo. Moscow opposes calls for a sovereign Kosovo. Chizhov has told the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS that the Kosovar developments defy the early expectations of those who attacked Yugoslavia. Chizhov pointed to the unwillingness of the contact group, which represents by and large the North Atlantic Alliance, to deal with the existing government of Yugoslavia. Chizhov dismissed as legally invalid and downright meaningless all attempts to decide the future of Kosovo behind Belgrade's back. He doubted whether there would be sufficient safety guarantees for municipal elections in Kosovo. The north Atlantic Alliance has taken a lenient approach to the continuing attempts at ethnic cleansing which have forced a good part of the non-Albanian residents of Kosovo to seek refuge elsewhere.

May 3

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY American planes fired at a bus with refugees near the city of Pec in Kosovo. 10 passengers were killed. The pilots could see very well that this wasn't a tank or armoured vehicle, nevertheless they attacked the bus. The same day NATO used for the first time the so called " graphite" bombs meant for ! knocking out electricity networks. When explosing they discharge graphite fiber which covers the wires and electrical devices and causes a short circuit. Among other civilian targets that day was a TV re-transmitter in Novi Sad, in the north of Yugoslavia and the city of Sremska-Mitrovisa, north-west of Belgrade. One woman was killed there.
Serbs will not participate in the census of the population in Kosovo until 350 thousand non-Albanians who were forced to leave the province come back. The Serb leader in Kosovska-Mitrovitsa Oliver Ivanovic, who made the statement, said the situation in Kosovo remained tense and no fair census or the more so elections could be expected under the circumstances.
The Serbs will not take part in a population census in Kosovo until 350.000 citizens of a non-Albanian nationality driven out of the province return. The chairman of the Executive committee of the Serbian National Assembly in the city of Kosovka-Mitrovica Oliver Ivanovic said that when speaking with representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He stressed that the situation in Kosovo is tense and in such conditions it is impossible to expect a fair census of the population. Ivanovich spoke out for taking a census all over the territory of Yugoslavia, at one and the same time. And that has been planned for next year.
NATO should adhere scrupulously to the main documents and not undertake any military peace-keeping actions with without the sanction of the United Nations. This is stressed in a special report of the commission for international affairs of Canada's Senate. The document stresses that NATO's military interference is often covered up with humanitarian motives, behind which stand the interests of some members of the alliance. To motivate the beginning of military operations against Yugoslavia last year, NATO managed to create a new legal basis for conducing military operations in the different regions of the world, says the report.

May 2

ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY the Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic categorically ruled out the possibility of participation of NATO troops in the international peacekeeping force in Kosovo.
There have been new clashes between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in the divided town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. Several people received injuries and three houses were torched. The current wave of unrest in Mitrovica started in February when ethnic Albanian hoodlums fired rocket-propelled grenades at a bus carrying Serbs. Two of the passengers died in the attack.
In early May 1999 NATO started to use ordinary bombs instead of high precision weapons of which it was running out. This led to ac sharp rise in civilian casualties. More than one thousand people were killed and five thousand injured since the war started. On the 2nd of May air raids were carried out on the cities of Novi-Pazar in southern Serbia and Banna-Vashta near the Bosnian border and the administrative centre of Kosovo, Pristina. Though there were no military installations there, NATO planes attacked the settlements regularly.

May 1

Serbs in Kosovo are living in the atmosphere of constant fear and persecution created by the Albanian majority of the region. Serguey Lavrov who visited Kosovo as a member of the UN Security Council delegation. He added the Kosovo Serbs were deprived of basic human rights such as the right to life, work and freedom of movement. Since last summer when the Kosovo Force was introduced into the region over 250,000 Serbs fled for fear of persecutions on the part of the Albanians.
ONE YEAR AGO ON THIS DAY 60 people died in Kosovo when a NATO bomb hit a bus at the distance of 20 kilometers from Pristina. Leader5s of the alliance again explained when had happened by a technical mistake. In the town of Panchevo a hospital was damaged. In Montenegro three adults and two babies died in the bombing of a bridge near the town of Berane. By the 1st of last May NATO had already dropped some 11,000 tons of explosives per every resident.

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