June 21
- Prime Minister Sergey Stepashin
calls to waste no time in reversing the flight of Serb refugees from Kosovo.
This problem, he told reporters in Moscow, was high on the agenda of the
summit of the G-8 that closed in Cologne on Sunday. He hoped Russian soldiers
in Kosovo can help to stop the exodus and believed their planned deployment
in a number of separate areas should facilitate the task. Together with
other peace-keepers, he said, they are expected to work towards reconciliation
between the Serb and the Albanian communities in Kosovo. A recent agreement
between Russia and NATO allows this country to send 36 hundred military
personnel to the province in southern Serbia.
- Russia's Defense Minister Igor
Sergeyev says he plans to secure parliamentary approval of the Russian
operation in Kosovo by simply polling the Upper House rather than calling
a formal vote. He believes this can save time. Igor Sergeyev also says
countries in Eastern and Central Europe should allow Russian airborne troops
to cross their air space as soon as the NATO Council formalizes Russian
participation in international peace-keeping in Kosovo.
- The KLA continues to attack and
kill members of the Serb and Gypsies communities in Kosovo and also to
detain and intimidate ethnic Albanians from among the followers of the
moderate self-rule leader Ibrahim Rugova. Reports received in London say
KLA fighters desecrated the relics of a revered Serb saint when they ransacked
a medieval Orthodox convent near Devic west of the Kosovo capital Pristina.
There are now French soldiers all around the site.
- Radio Montenegro says several more
dozen Montenegrins and Serbs have returned to the western Kosovo town of
Pec under escort by Italian troops. An earlier report by the agency BETA
said around a thousand Serbs had returned to Pristina in response to Yugoslav
calls. Up to 50 thousand Serbs are believed to have fled Kosovo since the
start of the Yugoslav troop pull-out on June 10th. Together with members
of other ethnic minorities, they fear reprisals by the KLA.
- The recently adopted plan of stabilization
on the Balkans has been in the center of today's talks between the American
President Bill Clinton and the German Chancellor Gerhard Shroeder. This
has been reported by the German foreign Ministry. After the G-8 summit
in Cologne President Clinton stayed in Germany to take part in consultations
between the United States and the European Union.
- At the G-8 summit that drew to
a close in Cologne on Sunday the Russian President Boris Yeltsin put forward
a new concept of strengthening general peace. The concept should come to
serve as a legal basis for guaranteeing international stability and security
is the 21st century and also become a United Nations official document.
The Russian leader stressed the need for the creation of a global system
of control over ballistic missiles. At a separate meeting with the US President
Bill Clinton the two man adopted a joint statement about consolidating
international stability and reached agreement to start the discussion before
the end of this summer of a SALT-3 treaty and an ABM treaty. After the
summit Boris Yeltsin returned to Moscow early on Monday.
- The US President Bill Clinton has
described his talks with the Russian leader Boris Yeltsin as "intensive
and fruitful". Speaking in an interview with the American TV network
CNN on Sunday he said that they had managed to do many things. They agreed
to go on with their efforts in the field of nuclear security, in the field
of helping Russia meat the IMF conditions and in securing the consolidation
of the Russian economy, and also in full implementation of agreements on
Kosovo. According to Clinton, Russian-American relations will get back
to normal, and most likely will grow even stronger than before the Kosovo
crisis. According to the US President, he’s content with his personal contact
with Boris Yeltsin. Also on Sunday Bill Clinton granted an interview to
the Russian TV company NTV. In the interview he described the Kosovo conflict
as a difficult test both for Russia and the United States, the test that
both countries had managed to stand.
- According to a spokesman for the
KFOR, Belgrade has sent a written notification to the KFOR commander-in-chief,
British General Michael Jackson of that all Yugoslav forces have been withdrawn
from Kosovo. The KFOR French peacekeepers said earlier that Yugoslav forces
had left Kosovo 12 hours ahead of the deadline at 24:00 on Sunday.
- Last night the so called Kosovo
Liberation Army signed an agreement with the peacekeeping force - KFOR
- on its own demilitarization. The agreement was reached at the talks at
the KFOR headquarters on the outskirts of Pristina. Under the agreement
the KLA fighters are to lay down all arms except rifles and shotguns within
the next 30 days, observe the armistice, unblock the roads and abstain
from interfering in the peacekeepers' operation. But a spokesman for the
KLA says that most of the arms to be handed in will be kept at KLA-controlled
depots since the agreement signed provides only for “demilitarizing” but
not for full disarming Kosovo fighters.
- According to a BETA news agency
report, the first group of about 1,000 Serb refugees have responded to
a call by official Belgrade on Saturday and has returned to Pristina from
Serbia. From 40,000 to 50,000 Serbs have left the province since late last
week when the Yugoslav Army began to leave Kosovo. Many refugees refuse
to return home fearing attacks by Kosovo Liberation Army fighters.
- On Sunday Kosovo Liberation Army
fighters plundered and burnt down 20 homes of Serbs in the village of Grace,
5 kilometers away from Pristina, and the plunderers even took away window-frames
and doors. According to the Serbian information center in Pristina, the
British peacekeepers near-by preferred to ignore the occurrence.
- This Monday the United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan begins his four-day official visit to Russia.
Today he will go to St. Petersburg and will arrive in Moscow on Tuesday.
During the visit Kofi Annan is due to meet President Yeltsin and other
Russian leaders. In an interview with the RIA-Novosti news agency Kofi
Annan said that he planned to discuss a wide range of issues, including
Russia's role in settling the crisis in Kosovo.
June 20
- President Boris Yeltsin has put
forward three milestone initiatives at the closing sitting of the current
summit of the G-8 in Cologne. The next such summit, he insists, must consider
a concept of global peace in the century ahead. The General Assembly of
the United Nations in the year 2000 might thrash out an international law
on the use of force, the Russian leader suggests. The international community,
he says, should also give thought to global arrangements that block the
proliferation of dangerous missile technologies. Other issues on the Cologne
agenda included the economic plight of the Third World, support for reforms
in Russia and, of course, Kosovo. The summit backed proposals for an area
of stability and economic prosperity in the Balkans and charted steps to
facilitate reconstruction in regions ravaged by the latest Balkans war.
Yielding to demands by Russia, the gathering stopped short of issuing threats
of no assistance to Yugoslavia as long as President Milosevic remains in
power. Late on Friday, Russia and the US announced a compromise on a Russian
role in the international peace-keeping in Kosovo. But other relations
between Russia and NATO cannot be revived before the Alliance issues a
formal call-off of its military action against Federal Yugoslavia. This
is according to Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who accompanies President
Yeltsin in Cologne. NATO's military campaign in the Balkans is currently
in suspension but may resume any moment.
- Russia's President Boris Yeltsin
has arrived in Cologne for the final day of the G-8 summit. On his arrival
he expressed satisfaction with the agreement on Kosovo reached between
Russia and NATO in Helsinki, and said that after a fight we have to make
peace. According to the President, he will be occupied at the summit with
political questions and will meet with its participants. There will be
talks with US President Bill Clinton and the German chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder. Boris Yeltsin also said that if there is time, he would like
to meet with Japan's prime-minister Keidzo Obuti. At the summit in Cologne
the Russian President will take part in discussing the problem of Kosovo
and also Russia's economic and financial relations with the Western countries.
- President Yeltsin has approved
the agreement reached in Helsinki on the terms of Russia's participation
in the international peace-keeping force in Kosovo. The announcement was
made in Cologne by the Russian Prime-Minister Sergei Stepashin. According
to the Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Russia has secured a significant
participation in the peace-keeping operation in Kosovo with all its interests
being taken into consideration. Mr. Ivanov said, however, that his country's
relations with NATO would remain frozen until the alliance announced the
end of its military operation against Yugoslavia. Under the Helsinki agreement,
Russia is sending 3600 servicemen to Kosovo who will be deployed in the
US, French and German sectors and who will report to the Russian command.
The Pristina airport will remain under control of 200 Russian paratroopers.
The final touches to the agreement will be put by President Yeltsin and
President Clinton at the ongoing G-8 summit in Cologne where Mr. Yeltsin
is expected on Sunday.
- More than half of the 190 thousand
Kosovo Serbs have fled the province for fear of reprisals on the part of
Albanian separatists. The announcement was made on Saturday by the Austrian
Interior Ministry. Militants of the Kosovo Liberation Army entered the
province together with western peace-keepers and with their connivance
established control of areas left by Yugoslav units. Serbs are burning
their houses and property. In the meantime, more than 73 thousand Albanian
refugees have returned to Kosovo from neighboring countries since the peace-keeping
force entered the province.
- The remaining representatives of
the Serb minority in Kosovo take the presence of Russian peace-keepers
in the province as the only force to protect them against purges on the
part of terrorists from the Kosovo Liberation Army. The conclusion has
been made by the Madrid-based E1 Pais newspaper. Spanish correspondents
accredited to Kosovo report that western peace-keepers ignore KLA terrorism.
The disarmament of the KLA militants provided by the UN Security Council
resolution on Kosovo is nowhere in sight.
- The fighters of the separatist
Kosovo Liberation Army are clamping down brutally on the Serbian population
in Prizren, Kosovo, after the Yugoslav army pulled out. The France Press
says the German peace-keepers who entered the city found 15 brutally beaten
up Serbs at a police station seized by the Albanian separatists. One of
them- a 70-year-old man- soon died. The fighters of the Kosovo Liberation
Army took over all the administrative buildings in the city and also the
post office, the court premises and the police stations and refuse to leave
them.
- A senior French officer with the
Kosovo Force says Yugoslav troops were completely out of Kosovo 8 hours
ahead of the agreed deadline of midnight on Sunday. The international peace-keepers
are now supposed to concentrate on implementing those clauses of the G-8
peace plan that call on them to disarm the Kosovo Liberation Army, which
fanned out across the province on the heels of retreating Serbian troops
and is now carrying out brutal reprisals against the Serb minority in Kosovo.
A few days ago, Deputy Yugoslav Foreign Minister Neboisa Vujovic stridently
reminded NATO that it must offer protection to the Kosovo Serbs.
June 19
- On Friday night in Helsinki the
three-day Russian-American talks involving the two countries' Defense and
Foreign Ministers ended in agreements on all basic issues of Russia's participation
in the international peacekeeping operation in Kosovo. As the Russian Defense
Minister Igor Sergeyev addressed the concluding news conference, he told
journalists that in keeping with the agreements, a Russian military contingent
in Kosovo would be formed of 3,600 servicemen to be deployed in the American,
French and German sectors. The Russian peacekeepers would be in charge
of the Pristina airport "Slatina", and would be under full political
and military control of Moscow.
- A G-8 summit got under way in Cologne,
Germany, on Friday. For the first two days of the summit Russia will be
represented by country's Prime-Minister Sergey Stepashin, with President
Yeltsin due to arrive in Cologne on Sunday. Some of the most important
issues on the agenda are the Yugoslav problem and the economic situation
in Russia. The Russian and American Presidents are to meet to approve the
agreements, signed at the ended Russian-American talks in Helsinki, on
Russia's participation in the international peacekeeping operation in Kosovo.
- The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
said in an interview with the ITAR-TASS news agency on Friday, in the run-up
to his official visit to Russia, that it was President Boris Yeltsin, Foreign
Minister Igor Ivanov and the Russian President's special envoy to the Balkans
Viktor Chernomyrdin that had played the key role in the process of a settlement
in Kosovo. Mr. Annan pointed out that they had been engaged in active talks
in Belgrade, discussed the Kosovo problem with the NATO countries' leaders,
the G-8 partners and UN Security Council members. According to Kofi Annan,
he had also maintained close contact with them over the past two months.
- The rate of exodus of the civilian
Serbian population from Kosovo exceeds that of the Albanian refugees return
to the Serbian province. According to the international Red Cross, some
40,000 Serbs, Montenegrins and people forming part of other minorities
have left Kosovo since NATO troops began to deploy there. While the number
of those who have returned to Kosovo over the period, - basically ethnic
Albanians, - makes up only 26,000. The main reason why Serbs leave their
home places is the fear of reprisals against them by Kosovo Liberation
Army fighters who entered the province together with the peacekeepers.
- Belgrade has accused the command
of the international peacekeeping force of failing to fulfil its commitments
to ensure the safety of the non-Albanian population of Kosovo and to disarm
Albanian militants. Yugoslavia's Deputy Foreign Minister Nebojsa Vujovic
called on NATO's Commander British General Michael Jackson to create conditions
for the return of Serbian and Montenegrian refugees to Kosovo. He also
demanded that Albanian terrorists striving to establish control over Kosovo
lay down their weapons.
- The Russian news agency RIA-Novosti
quotes the presidential press service as saying that Russia's President
Yeltsin has supported Moscow's initiative concerning participation of Russian
capital city building companies in the efforts to restore Yugoslavia's
civilian transport and communication facilities, destroyed during NATO
bombing raids. The companies in question will help restore the car and
truck bridge across the Danube in the city Novy Sad, and also the television
tower in Belgrade.
June 18
- President Yeltsin hopes he and
his US counterpart Bill Clinton will come to terms when they've discussed
the Russian role in the peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo. A Yeltsin-Clinton
meeting has been scheduled for Sunday. It will take place in the context
of the Cologne conference of the world's leading nations. President Clinton
said, on arrival in Cologne, that the joint search for agreement on the
Kosovo problem would hardly take long. Boris Yeltsin is arriving in Cologne
Sunday, and Russia will be represented at the G-8 summit Friday and Saturday
by Prime Minister Sergey Stepashin. The Cologne summit is focussing on
the situation in and around Kosovo, global economic issues, including trade
and financial problems. A separate document is expected on cooperation
between Russia and the West.
- Russian foreign and defense ministers
Igor Ivanov and Igor Sergeyev and their US counterparts Madeleine Albright
and William Cohen have failed to reach agreement on the Russian role in
the peacemaking efforts in Kosovo. The Russian and US negotiating teams
met for the first time Wednesday. Expert teams are also working on draft
agreements. The Americans came out Friday with what the expert teams suggested
for an agreement last night. The Russians are considering these new suggestions.
- The Russian minister for emergency
situations Sergey Shoigu says his country will be sending more humanitarian
aid to Yugoslavia. It will be paying special attention to the restoration
of the Yugoslav power production system and bridges over Yugoslav rivers
and will be sending more food to that country. The Russian government has
considered ways to help bring to life Yugoslav television whose relay stations
suffered damage under the NATO bombing raids. Russian communication satellites
will likely be used for this purpose.
- Ukraine has refused to take part
in NATO's naval exercises in the Black Sea, for the first time since signing
the partnership-for-peace program with NATO. President Leonid Kuchma has
ordered the several warships that have already set out for the exercises
to return to Ukrainian bases. Earlier Russia curtailed its relations with
NATO because of its aggression against Yugoslavia.
- The "G-8" summit opens
in Cologne, Germany, today. It is planned to discuss aid to Yugoslavia,
the economic situation in the world, the state and the trends of world
trade, financial problems and some other questions. Prime Minister Sergey
Stepashin will represent Russia on Friday and Saturday. He will brief the
leaders attending the summit on the economic and financial situation in
Russia. The summit is expected to approve besides a final communique a
document on cooperation between Russia and the West. Russia's President
Boris Yeltsin will attend the final day of the summit, that is on Sunday.
He is to meet with US President Bill Clinton and the Chancellor of the
Federal Republic of Germany Gerhard Schroeder.
- The Russian and American delegations
resumed talks in Helsinki, Finland, today on Russia's participation in
the international peacekeeping operation in Kosovo. The talks began with
the separate meetings of the Defense Ministers of Russia and the United
States, Igor Sergeyev and William Cohen, and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov
and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. It is believed that the now
round of the dialogue will focus attention of the draft documents concerning
the participation of Russian peacekeepers in the international operation
in the Serbian province of Kosovo. Experts of the two sides further worked
on them during last night. On Thursday the work of the delegations of the
two countries was interrupted for an hour because of the refusal of the
American side to accept Russia's principles and the form of its participation
in the international efforts to restore peace in Kosovo. Russia's President
Boris Yeltsin has said Russia continues to insist on having a separate
sector in Kosovo.
- Russia's Lower House of Parliament
- the State Duma - is to hear today Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defense
Minister Igor Sergeyev. They are to outline measures being taken by Russia
to settle the crisis in the Balkans. Also today the House is starting the
process of ratifying a number of international agreements. Among them is
a treaty between Russia and Ukraine on settling mutual accounts, connected
to the division of the Black Sea Fleet and also the agreement between Russia,
Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan and China on the mutual reduction of
the armed forces in the border area.
- The Russian President's Balkans
envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin has given the latest data on the number of those
killed and the number of refugees as a result of NATO's aggression against
Yugoslavia. According to him, 2,200 civilians, including more than a thousand
children, and also 642 Yugoslav servicemen have died in NATO's missile
and bomb attacks. Some 5,000 people have been injured. More than a million
people have become refugees, and two million have been left without any
means of subsistence. Chernomyrdin said that during the 80-day war NATO
dropped 10,000 bombs and fired some 3,000 cruise missiles on the sovereign
state. He stressed that the alliance had attained none of the objectives
set prior to the operation, while the situation in Kosovo grew even more
involved.
- A British expert in historical
campaigns, Christopher Bellamy has described the action carried out by
Russian peacekeepers in taking over the airport in Pristina as worthy of
admiration. He said that in an interview for a Netherlands's newspaper.
He believes the Russian troops should be assigned a role in the central
sector of KFOR, now under the control of the British servicemen. In the
opinion of the British expert, the Russians played an important role in
convincing Milosevic to agree to the sending of international peacekeeping
forces to Kosovo and the West today should work together with Russia.
- The UN mission in Kosovo intends
to press firmly for disarming the Kosovo Liberation Army. Assistant UN
Secretary-General Louisa Frishett stated this in New York on Thursday.
She stressed that under the resolution of the UN Security Council, the
fighters of the Kosovo Liberation Army should lay down arms as soon as
possible.
- The UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Mary Robinson has expressed concern over the present situation of
the Serbs in Kosovo. In an interview for the Russian newspaper "Kommersant
Daily" she pointed out that the United Nations has long been receiving
reports about the violation of the rights of the Serbian minority, and
about executions carried out by Albanian separatists.
June 17
- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov
has reported a moderate progress achieved in the Russian-American talks
now ongoing in Helsinki. Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, he
said that two major blocks of problems had already been agreed. The first
is about who and how will be using the Slatina airport in the Kosovo capital
Pristina, which has been held by Russian paratroopers for almost a week
now. The airport is expected to be used by all the peacekeepers now deployed
in the province, Mr. Ivanov said, adding that the Russian contingent will
maintain its presence there. The sides have also agreed the details of
the Russian military participation in every level of running the international
peacekeeping force. The deployment of the Russian peacekeeping contingent
is one of the few remaining loose ends and Mr. Ivanov stressed that one
thing remains clear and that is no one is going to divide Federal Yugoslavia
into sectors and zones of influence.
- A NATO representative said in Pristina
on Thursday that the Serbian troops and police had completely withdrawn
from the south of the troubled province. He also said that Belgrade had
fully met the NATO-imposed deadline taking out by midnight on Wednesday
26,000 troops. The remaining 14,000 are due to have vacated the central
and northern parts of this Serbian province by Sunday.
- NATO Secretary General Javier Solana
said on Thursday that Kosovo would not be turned into an independent nation.
Speaking on Spanish radio, he said that any change in the Balkan power
keg was fraught with destabilizing the entire system of European security.
Mr. Solana also said that he expected the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force
to disarm the Kosovo Liberation Army within a 120 day deadline of the international
peacekeepers’ introduction into the war-ravaged Serbian province.
- The State Duma, the lower house
of the Russian parliament has passed a resolution to prosecute NATO Secretary
General Javier Solana for masterminding the allied aggression against Federal
Yugoslavia. The resolution underscores the fact that by sanctioning the
military operation in the Balkans, the top NATO officials, most notably
Mr. Solana himself, committed a war crime and should be made to answer
for inhuman act.
- The Italian military command on
Thursday ordered two armored personnel carriers to the medieval Decane
monastery, a major symbol of Serbian Orthodoxy in Kosovo, whose monks had
earlier appealed to them for protection against the Kosovo Liberation Army
guerrillas who had entered their town. In Prizren in southwestern Kosovo
on Wednesday the KLA fighters burned down one of the region’s most ancient
Orthodox monasteries.
- The United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights Mary Robinson, currently on an official visit to Moscow,
has voiced concern about the current condition of Serbs in Kosovo. Speaking
in an interview with the Moscow-based daily "Kommersant" she
stressed that the United Nations had long since been receiving reports
about violation of Serbian minority human rights and executions carried
out by the Kosovo Liberation Army units. The UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights feels that one of the more important things that the peacekeepers,
whether NATO or Russian, should do is to put an end to these horrors, so
as Serbs could return to their homes.
- President Yeltsin sticks to his
demand for Russian control over part of Kosovo. He held a short while ago
a telephone conversation with Defense minister Igor Sergeyev who is holding
negotiations on the Russian role in Kosovo with his US counterpart William
Cohen, in Helsinki. Boris Yeltsin asked Igor Sergeyev to make his position
clear to Mr. Cohen.
- Russian Defense minister Igor Sergeyev
told newsmen in Helsinki Wednesday night that the Russian and US military
negotiators had settled differences on the structural makeup of the Kosovo
peacekeepers command, and had eliminated almost all differences on the
control of Pristina's Slatina airport. The Kosovo peacekeeping contingent
is to incorporate a Russian battalion, and Slatina airport remains under
Russian control. The Russian and US negotiators held more than 8 hours
of talks at the Finnish President's palace, in Helsinki. President Yeltsin
had instructed Defense minister Igor Sergeyev to make sure that Russia
played a substantial role in the peacekeeping efforts. United States Secretary
of Defense William Cohen appreciates what the negotiating teams did and
says the negotiations will continue Thursday.
- Russian Foreign minister Igor Ivanov,
who is also visiting Helsinki, underlines the need for setting what he
sees as a matter of principle - relations between the Russian and NATO
peacekeepers in Kosovo. Igor Ivanov is going to discuss the problems of
what he describes as the most complicated peacekeeping operation with his
United States counterpart Madeleine Albright.
- A high-ranking spokesman for the
Russian Defense ministry said in Helsinki that the Kosovo Liberation Army
threats against the Russian peacekeepers made it even clearer that the
KLA was a terrorist organization. The Russian spokesman said that the Kosovo
Liberation Army was, in keeping with the United Nations decision, to surrender
weapons now that the Yugoslav army and police forces were withdrawing from
Kosovo. He accused the North Atlantic Alliance, which was playing a substantial
role in the peacekeeping efforts, of failing to meet in good faith its
earlier commitments. He went so far as to accuse the Alliance of playing
into the hand of the Albanian paramilitaries in Kosovo.
- The Serbian government has called
on the Serbs, Montenegroes and other ethnic minorities of Kosovo to stay
in their home province. The Serbian government said Wednesday night that
the international peacekeeping contingent had started doing that it was
supposed to do and that no more armed clashes were, as a matter of fact,
reported in Kosovo. The Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Pavle
and the commander of the NATO peacekeeping contingent General Jackson have
joined the Serbian government's call on the residents of Kosovo. More than
50 000 ethnic Serbs fled Kosovo for fear of the western peacekeepers and
Kosovo Liberation Army forces.
- The Russian minister for emergency
situations, Sergey Shoigu, feels the international community should make
concerted efforts for the reconstruction of what the NATO military destroyed
in Kosovo. Russia, Greece, Switzerland and Austria make up an ad hoc group
for rendering humanitarian aid to the victims of the NATO bombing raids.
Russian food and medical drug convoys are arriving daily in Yugoslavia,
Shoigu says, and Russia will take it upon itself to help Yugoslavia rebuild
its water supply system and power plants, and make navigation in the waters
of the Danube river, whose bridges have been destroyed, again possible.
June 16
- The Russian Defence Minister warns
of dangers to the Kosovo peace process if the Kosovo Liberation Army is
allowed to intensify its campaign of guerilla violence in Kosovo. Marshal
Igor Sergeyev said this in Helsinki today at a meeting with the Finnish
President Martti Ahtisaari, who was instrumental in brokering the United
Nations peace plan on Kosovo. According to the agency ITAR-TASS, the meeting
concentrated on how to disarm the opposing sides in the war-torn province
in southern Serbia. Sergeyev's main pursuit in Helsinki is to thrash out
agreements that govern coordination between Russian and Western peace-keepers
in Kosovo. He will try to achieve this at a meeting with his counterpart
from the US William Cohen. The Marshal says he has presidential instructions
to secure a formidable Russian peacekeeping presence in Kosovo.
- The Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov has demanded an immediate disarmament of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
He was speaking in the Finnish capital Helsinki ahead of a meeting with
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright there on Thursday. They will talk
with each other following an encounter between their countries defence
chiefs. Mr lvanov insists NATO forces in Kosovo must honour UN resolutions
that call for the disarmament of the separatist guerillas.
- The Kosovo Liberation Army says
it sees the Russian soldiers in Kosovo as a hostile force. A separatist
spokesman in Pristina said today there will be no peace in Kosovo as long
as the Russian force is allowed to stay. This country's foreign ministry
reacted by describing the statement as an open declaration of war on the
Russian peace-keepers in Kosovo.
- The International Red Cross in
Geneva says as many as 50 thousand Serbs have fled Kosovo since the arrival
of NATO forces and guerillas of the outlawed Kosovo Liberation Army. Yugoslav
sources put the figure at 80 thousand. Observers link the exodus to apparent
unwillingness by NATO to implement UN resolutions that call for the disarmament
of the Kosovo separatists.
- The Russian Orthodox Patriarch
Alexiy II insists the big powers must protect the Kosovo Serbs as well
as the ethnic Albanian community in the province. He told this to the chief
United Nations refugee officer Mary Robinson at a meeting in Moscow on
Wednesday. Many Kosovo Serbs are now victims of hostile attacks, His Holiness
said, and have to flee towns and villages where their families have lived
for centuries. Mrs Robinson pledged every effort to defend the rights of
all ethnic groups in Kosovo.
- Prime Minister of Ukraine Valery
Pustovoitenko says his country will allow the use of its air space by Russian
planes carrying peace-keeping troops to Kosovo.
- The Defence Ministers of Russia
and the United States, Igor Sergeev and William Cohen, will discuss in
Helsinki today Russia's role in the peace-keeping operation in the Serbian
province of Kosovo. Earlier, there was a telephone conversation on the
Kosovo problem, which a representative of the Pentagon described as "very
good". And on Thursday the two will be joined by Russia's Foreign
Minister Igor Ivanov and America's Secretary of State Madleine Albright.
- The introduction into Pristina
of 200 Russian servicemen was carried out in accordance with the strategic
plan of developments in Kosovo, approved by Russia's president Boris Yeltsin.
This was stated on a Russian television channel by Vladimir Putin, director
of the Federal Security Service and secretary of the National Security
Council. He stressed that the military men carried out the assignment excellently,
and without violating any part of the corresponding resolution of the UN
Security Council.
- A Russian lorry convoy heading
for Kosovo from Bosnia has reached the administrative center of this Serbian
region, Pristina. The motorcade consisting of 15 trucks has brought food
and water for 200 Russian paratroopers stationed at the airport of Pristina.
Russia and Yugoslavia believe the Russian contingent must be in Kosovo
to protect the local Serbian population form attacks of the fighters of
the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army.
- Hungary's parliament has given
permission for military units of Russia and Poland crossing the country's
territory on the way to Kosovo. This has been reported by the Russian news
agency "Novosti". However, the final decision on each concrete
case remains with Hungary's government. Earlier Hungary said it couldn't
consider Russia's request on the transit of its troops until its status
in the peace-keeping operation in Kosovo is determined.
- In accordance with an agreement
between Belgrade and NATO, some 20 000 servicemen of Yugoslavia, that is
about half of the forces in the province, have left Kosovo or on their
way out. The ITAR-TASS news agency says such a statement was made in Pristina
by a representative of NATO's command Robin Clifford.
- In Belgrade, representatives of
the coordinating group Focus have discussed the program of giving humanitarian
aid to Yugoslavia. On the group are Russia, Greece, Switzerland and Austria.
The Russia side was represented by the head of the Emergencies' Ministry
Sergey Shoygu. The sides stressed the need to restore first of all Yugoslavia's
infrastructure, energy and health facilities which were damaged by NATO
bombing raids.
- Fighters from the so-called Kosovo
Liberation Army set fire last night to dozens of houses in south-western
outskirts of Pristina, near Kosovo Polje. According to the Associated Press,
this act of vandalism was carried out soon after the Serbs who lived there
left together with units of the Yugoslav army.
- The NATO counties lost over Yugoslavia
61 warplanes, 30 reconnaissance planes and 7 helicopters. Yugoslavia's
air defences shot down also 238 cruise missiles. The total weight of missiles
and bombs dropped on 995 Yugoslavia's sites amounted to 22 000 tons. This
has been made known by chief of staff of the supreme command of Yugoslavia's
army general Dragolub Ojdanic.
June 15
- President Boris Yeltsin has called
for a strict compliance with the UN Security Council's resolution on Kosovo,
the establishment of a lasting and durable peace in the troubled province
and the disarmament of illegal paramilitary formations. He was speaking
on Tuesday during a meeting with Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin who had
earlier presided over a session of the Russian Security Council devoted
to the situation in Kosovo. The international peace plan for Kosovo, approved
by the United Nations, stipulates the return of refugees, the introduction
of a peacekeeping force to monitor a settlement, and broad autonomy for
Kosovo within the framework of a single Yugoslavia. Russian Foreign Minister
Igor Ivanov and US Secretary of State Madleine Albright are planning to
meet in Helsinki on Wednesday or at the end of the week to discuss the
issue of Russia's participation in the Kosovo peacekeeping operation. The
talks will be attended by Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeiev and US
Secretary of Defense William Cohen.
- Meanwhile, some 25 thousand NATO
servicemen have already arrived in Kosovo. This is nearly half the strength
of the planned peacekeeping force. The airport of Kosovo capital Pristina
is being controlled by 200 Russian paratroopers who were the first to enter
the province. A truck load of food and water for the Russian soldiers is
on its way to Pristina from neighbouring Bosnia. Last night the airport
came under mortar fire opened by unknown gunmen. Luckily, no one was killed.
Earlier militants of the Kosovo Liberation Army had repeatedly stated that
they couldn't guarantee the safety of the Russian peacekeepers. In another
incident KLA fighters attacked British solders in the center of Pristina.
- One of KLA commanders Rustem Mustafar
has announced that the KLA will not fulfil the UN Security Councils resolution
that stipulates its disarmament. In an interview with the London-based
Financial Times he said the militants would continue fighting for the independence
of Kosovo. This also contradicts the resolution. Meanwhile, large numbers
of Kosovo Serbs have been hastily fleeing the province fearing massacres
by ethnic Albanians.
- In the Kremlin the Russian President
Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin will discuss on the 15th
of June preparations for a G-8 summit due in Cologne this week. The Yugoslav
problem will be central at the talks. Sergei Stepashin will represent Russia
on the 18th and 19th of June and will report to President Yeltsin the results
of his work at the summit before the President's departure to Cologne on
Sunday, the 20th.
- The US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright said in Washington that a certain progress had been reached on
the issue of the Russian servicemen's role in the Kosovo peacekeeping operation
during a telephone conversation between the Russian President Boris Yeltsin
and his American counterpart Bill Clinton. According to her, the discussion
of the issue will continue at the meeting of the two countries Defense
ministers Igor Sergeev and William Cohen which is expected to produce agreement
on Russia's long term preparation in the Kosovo peace-keeping operation.
The meeting will be held in Helsinki shortly and will also be attended
by the Russian Foreign minister Igor Ivanov and the US Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright.
- The Committee for peace on the
Balkans of the British parliament supported the creation of a separate
control zone for the Russian peace-keepers in Kosovo. It believes that
such zone should be in the part of Kosovo mostly-populated by Serbs. The
committee also believes that the restoration of Yugoslavia ruined by the
NATO bombing should be at NATO's expense since the alliance bears the brunt
of responsibility for the aggression. According to Belgrade, the economic
damage to the country is over 100 billion dollars. Last night militants
of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army took out three men from a flow
of Serbs heading for Serbia and shot them before children's eyes. The incident
took place 5 kilometers from the capital of Kosovo, Pristina, where a Serb
employee of the local TV center was shot near his house approximately at
the same time. In another part of Pristina militants of the Kosovo Liberation
Army kidnapped three Serbs.
- Serbian sources of the RIA NOVOSTI
news agency in Pristina have reported that some 7000 Russian soldiers of
the Pskov airborne division are expected to arrive in Kosovo in the coming
3 or 4 days. The airport "Slatina" in Pristina where the headquarters
of the Russian peace-keepers has been deployed is under full control of
Russian landing troops which arrived earlier.
- The head of the Russian Ministry
for Emergency situations Sergei Shoigu is arriving today in Belgrade for
talks on the implementation of international program of humanitarian aid
to Yugoslavia. Alongside with Russia Greece, Switzerland and Austria are
taking part. The talks will concentrate on the restoration of energy systems,
bridges and water supply systems destroyed by the NATO bombing.
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