The Voice of Russia

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June 6

President Boris Yeltsin has called for an end to NATO airstrikes on Yugoslavia following the country's acceptance of the international peace plan for Kosovo. At a meeting with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov the President gave instructions to the Foreign Ministry to work towards achieving a cessation of hostilities in the Balkans as soon as possible. In a telephone conversation on Saturday President Yeltsin and his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, underscored the need for achieving a political settlement in the Balkans in the shortest possible time and with the leading role of the UN Security Council.
Foreign minister Igor Ivanov said after his meeting with Boris Yeltsin that after the end of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia Russia would take part in the work on a UN Security Council resolution on Kosovo and in the implementation of such a resolution. Igor Ivanov pointed out that Russia would consider the possibility of its participation in an international force in the Balkans if an acceptable form was worked out. He said Russia wanted a peacekeeping force in Kosovo to be under the command of the UN, not NATO.
A military delegation of Yugoslavia and representatives of NATO discussed details of implementing the peace plan for Kosovo when they met in Blac, Macedonia, on Saturday. A military-technical agreement on the routes and timetable of the withdrawal of Yugoslavia's troops is to be signed. In Moscow, a representative of Yugoslavia's embassy described as an "ultimatum" the conditions set forth by NATO military. At the same time, an official representative of the alliance Jamie Shea said that in Blac the Serbs are being told what they should do to meet NATO's demands. The talks are to continue.
NATO warplanes continue to bomb Yugoslavia, despite the fact that Belgrade had accepted the proposals on restoring peace. Strikes were hit at the outskirts of Pristina and Prizren, in Kosovo on Saturday night. According to the TANJUG news agency especially big damage was done to the villages of Bikuse and Pozlikusa where 14 missiles exploded. Air raid warnings also Sounded in Nis. However, in Belgrade, there were no raids for three nights in a row. On Saturday missiles destroyed a tunnel near Pristina. Several cluster bombs exploded in the village of Pirane. And in the east of Serbia damage was done to the city of Uzice. Over 1200 civilians died and more then five thousand wounded since the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia began. Material damage is said to amount to 200 billion dollars.
A representative of the Pentagon Kenneth Bacon on Saturday actually went back on his statement that NATO could stop air strikes at Yugoslavia on Sunday or at the beginning of next week. Speaking at a briefing in Washington he said the bombing will continue until NATO sees the withdrawal of Serbian troops from Kosovo.
Protests against NATO bombing of Yugoslavia continue . A public organization "International Action Center" held a demonstration in Washington on Saturday branding NATO as fascism and demanding "hands off Yugoslavia". Thousands of people took part in the manifestation in London and in Glasgow, Scotland. The well known British playwright Harold Pinter described the war against Yugoslavia as a shame. Representatives of some 20 public and political organizations of Mexico held of protest near the embassies of the United States and Britain in the capital of the country.

June 5

The Russian President Boris Yeltsin has demanded an immediate end to the bombardment of Yugoslavia now that the Balkan country has accepted the G-8 countries` peace plan for Kosovo. In a telephone conversation with the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Yeltsin said that now airstrikes were becoming senseless. Agreement on Kosovo was reached during the lengthy talks in Moscow and Bonn, in which the Russian President's envoy to the Balkans Viktor Chernomyrdin was actively involved. Chernomyrdin went to Belgrade on several occasions, and on Thursday Yugoslavia accepted The G-8's peace plan.
If the Serbian side begins to carry out the plan for a settlement of the Kosovo conflict, NATO may stop the bombing raids on Yugoslavia as early as this coming Sunday. This came in a statement at a Pentagon-held briefing on Friday by the Pentagon's official spokesman Kenneth Bacon. According to him, NATO military officials and the Yugoslav military command will meet on Saturday morning. And if agreement is reached Serbia will need two days to start pulling its troops out of Kosovo. After that, the Pentagon spokesman said, airstrikes could be drawn to a halt.
Meanwhile NATO aircraft delivered several airstrikes on Yugoslavia on Friday night despite bad weather and poor visibility. According to the news agency TANJUG, missiles exploded in the Kosovo cities of Prizren and Decani. Air-raid warning sirens sounded in Belgrade. On Friday the airport Batainica, in a capital city suburb, came under attack. One missile hit the compound of the tea-making factory "Pharmakos" in Prizren and several others fell onto a near-by village Vlasna. Bombs damaged the Kosovo communities Grosevac and Djakovica, and also the Uzice area, in Eastern Serbia. Since NATO launched its aggression against Yugoslavia, more than 1,200 civilians have been killed and over 5,000 have been injured in the Balkan country.
The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has welcomed the reports that agreement has been reached in Belgrade on a settlement of the crisis in Yugoslavia. He's extended greetings to the Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and Russian President's special envoy to the Balkans Viktor Chernomyrdin on their "success". At the same time Kofi Annan pointed out that much was yet to be done to finalize the details of the agreement, prepare a UN Security Council draft resolution and implement the resolution.
The American President Bill Clinton has thanked Russia for the " constructive" role this country has been playing in the efforts to bring about a settlement of the Kosovo crisis. This comes in a letter he sent to his Russian counterpart Boris Yeltsin on Friday. Bill Clinton stresses the importance of "very solid" relations between the United States and Russia. The White House press secretary Joe Lockhard, who circulated the news, added that the US Vice-President Albert Gore and Russian Prime-Minister Sergey Stepashin had a telephone conversation on Friday.
Russia may send from 5,000 to 10,000 servicemen to the peacekeeping force in Kosovo. This came in a statement for the Interfax news agency on Friday by the Russian President`s envoy to the Balkans Victor Chernomyrdin. Chernomyrdin added that Yugoslavia had urgently requested that Russia should send its troops to the Balkan country. NATO has no objections to this. At the same time the deputy Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Avdeyev warns that Russia shall not send its contingent to Kosovo under the NATO command.
China sees an immediate end to NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia as an obligatory condition for action to be taken on the peace plan for Kosovo. This came in a telephone conversation with the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Friday by the Chinese Prime-Minister Ju Rongzhi. China`s Prime-Minister stressed that was the condition, on which the United Nations Security Council could get down to discussing the peace plan.

June 4

President Boris Yeltsin has spoken highly of the results of a mediatory mission by his special envoy to the Balkans Victor Chernomyrdin. In the past two weeks Mr Chernomyrdin was negotiating a peace plan for Yugoslavia with US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Finnish President Marti Ahtisaari, representing the European Union. On Thursday the plan was accepted by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. After Mr Chernomyrdin informed President Yeltsin of the results of his mission, the latter noted that an opportunity had emerged to stop the conflict during the next few days. The German Chancellor in his telephone conversation with Boris Yeltsin, expressed satisfaction with the agreement reached on the peace plan and thanked Russia for its constructive role in the settlement of the crisis. The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, for his part, reacted positively to the peace deal. There has been a rather cool reaction from the United States, Washington again stressed that Yugoslavia must comply with NATO's demands, including a complete withdrawal of Serbian troops from Kosovo.
The group of Eight consisting of the former G-7 plus Russia, has drafted a UN Security Council resolution on Kosovo, based on the proposed peace plan for a settlement of the conflict. G-8 foreign ministers will meet on Sunday in Bonn or in Cologne to finalize the draft. The peace plan stipulates, among other things, a Serbian troops withdrawal from Kosovo and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force in the troubled province. The United States insists that the peacekeepers be put under NATO's command, while Russia and Yugoslavia demand that the operation be carried out under the UN flag. A group of military experts from NATO member-countries is due to arrive in Belgrade on Saturday to oversee the withdrawal of Serbian army and police units from Kosovo. Russia will send its own representatives who will be placed under a separate command.
Yugoslav military officials have contacted NATO's command in the Belgian city of Mons to coordinate the implementation of the Kosovo peace plan. The sides exchanged several telephone and fax messages. Yugoslav commanders were interested in what concrete steps should be taken on both sides following Belgrade's acceptance of NATO's conditions for stopping the bombing. The NATO Council is meeting on Friday to map out a sequence of actions by the alliance.
Despite progress in the political settlement of the Kosovo crisis, NATO aircraft last night carried out new bomb attacks on Yugoslavia. Few missiles were fired on a TV transmitter near the town of Trgovicte off the border with Macedonia. Two missiles exploded in the village of Markovici in southern Serbia. Other targets included electricity supply facilities in Serbia. In another development two missiles destroyed a bridge across the Yasenica river in the center of the republic. Bombs were dropped on the town of Prizren in Kosovo and the Kosovo administrative center, Pristina.
China has called for an immediate halt to NATO's bombings of Yugoslavia as the main condition for the implementation of the Kosovo peace plan. A statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Friday points out that nothing can justify NATO's aggression. It says the operation is illegal as it has not been authorized by the United Nations, which sets a dangerous precedent for other conflict-stricken areas.

In Helsinki, today, the special representative of Russia's president Victor Chernomyrdin, the president of Finland Martti Ahtisaari and America`s deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott will discuss steps to settle the Yugoslav conflict, following Belgrade's consent with the peace plan. It provides for the withdrawal of all Yugoslav troops from Kosovo and the stationing of international peace-keeping forces. The United States insists that NATO take over command and make up the backbone of those forces. Some reports say that the Yugoslav troops will be given one week to pull out of Kosovo, and then NATO bombing will end. After Belgrade officially signs the agreement on a settlement, a draft resolution will be prepared and submitted to the UN Security Council.
Russia's mediator Victor Chernomyrdin believes that the principles of an agreement between NATO and Yugoslavia should be worked out already in the next few days, and after that the bombing of Yugoslavia should be stopped. Victor Chernomyrdin who returned from Belgrade on Thursday said that during the talks on a Yugoslav settlement not a step was made back from the principles worked out under the guidance of the Russian president. General Leonid Ivashov who took part in the talks said that the role NATO will play in the coming peace-keeping action in Kosovo doesn't quite suit Russia.
Though Belgrade has accepted the peace plan for Kosovo, NATO warplanes last night again hit strikes at the cities, communications and fuel dumps in Yugoslavia. More than 70 missiles and bombs of a big power capacity were showered down. NATO includes into its military targets public buildings, industrial enterpises, educational establishments, hospitals and even prisons. According to Yugoslav figures, NATO lost about 50 planes of different types during its aggression.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has welcome Yugoslavia's acception of the international plan for a settlement in the Balkans. He also expressed the hope that the next step would be the approval by the Security Council of a corresponding resolution on a Kosovo settlement. In Cologne where a European Union summit is going on the European leaders have assessed the news from Belgrade as very positive.

June 3

Yugoslavia has accepted the international plan for a settlement of the Balkan crisis. According to the TANJUG news agency, the Slobodan Milosevic Government has approved the settlement plan, based on G-8 proposals. On June 2nd and 3rd the plan was discussed at the Belgrade-held talks of the Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic with the Russian President's special envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin and the European Union representative, Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. The plan was finalized at a meeting that Russian, European Union and American officials had in Bonn earlier. Before leaving Belgrade for Moscow Viktor Chernomyrdin called the deputy United States Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and suggested sending a group of NATO military officials under the United Nations aegis to the Yugoslav capital shortly. The officials would meet Yugoslav leaders to discuss ways to carry out the agreed-on plan. According to the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti, at the first stage the plan provides for withdrawing Serbian armed formations from Kosovo, after which NATO would make a pause in its military actions. Then the UN Security Council would approve a plan for a Yugoslav crisis settlement, and the plan would begin to be implemented. The Serbian Parliament, too, has approved the international plan for a Balkan crisis settlement.
Russia has reaffirmed that its position on a Yugoslav settlement remains unchanged, namely that the bombings should be brought to a halt first, and then the parties involved could concentrate on the relevant United Nations Security Council resolution. The Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin has said that Moscow does insist on the implementation of these two provisions. He also stressed that the process of a Balkan settlement should be carried out under the UN aegis. On June 4th the State Duma, - the Russian Parliament's lower house, will take up the course of talks on a peaceful settlement of the crisis around Yugoslavia. The Defense Minister Igor Sergeev, first deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Avdeyev and Yugoslavia's ambassador to Russia Borislav Milosevic have been invited to attend.
On Wednesday night NATO aircraft continued the barbaric bombing raids on Yugoslavia. Airstrikes were delivered on Kosovo areas bordering on Albania. Belgrade television relay stations were hit all over Serbia. Gas- and petrol-tanks in the cities of Srbobran and Sombor were again attacked. No raids were conducted on Belgrade where Russian and Finnish mediators were engaged in talks.
The deputy UN Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Sergio de Mello has submitted a report in what turns out to be the first attempt to provide an objective portrayal of the horrendous situation both in Kosovo and the rest of Yugoslavia. This has come in a statement by Russia's permanent representative at the United Nations Sergei Lavrov. Sergio de Mello says in his report that NATO aircraft keep destroying Yugoslavia's infrastructure and the systems of health protection and education. The deputy UN Secretary-General has called for avoiding double standards and remember both about the plight of Kosovo refugees and of that today Yugoslavia hosts some half a million Serbs who were forced to flee their homes in Croatia and Bosnia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has circulated a press release to stress that the decision to deploy NATO aircraft on Hungarian territory is yet another show of contempt by the alliance for international law provisions concerning guarantees of military security in Europe. The Russian Foreign Ministry points out that this move by NATO and the Hungarian Government can only be seen as running counter to one of the basic provisions of the Russia-NATO Founding Act. A provision that allows to temporarily reinforce troops on the territory of the alliance's new member-nations only for defense against the threat of aggression or to take action to maintain peace is compliance with the United Nations Charter and the principles of the Organizations for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
A two-day meeting of the heads of state and government of the European Union member-nations has got under way in Cologne, Germany. The EU leaders are centered on ways to Unblock the Balkan conflict. The agenda of the summit features efforts to work out a system of a common foreign policy and security policy, and also the EU strategy with regard to Russia. The Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari is reporting to the summit about the results of his peacekeeping mission to Belgrade.

The Kosovo crisis negotiations continue today in Belgrade. Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and Russian and European Union mediators Viktor Chernomyrdin and Martti Ahtisaari held two-hour talks on Wednesday. They focused on a peace scenario discussed earlier in Bonn, with US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. The peace scenario conditions an end to the NATO bombing raids by the withdrawal of all the Yugoslav forces from Kosovo and the Yugoslav acceptance of the idea of international military and non-military presence in that province. The NATO leaders assume that NATO forces will make up the bulk of a Kosovo peacemaking contingent. Belgrade feels the North Atlantic Alliance must, first of all, stop bombing Yugoslav territory.
The Serbian Parliament is meeting in emergency session to discuss ways to settle the Kosovo problem. The Russian and European Union peace mediators presented a scenario for a Kosovo settlement to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Wednesday. The Yugoslavs,however, tend to see a peace plan described by Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari as an ultimatum. The Serbian lawmakers insisted on an end to the NATO aggression as a necessary condition for an accommodation and opposed the idea of NATO presence, call it as you like, in Kosovo.
NATO planes kept bombing Yugoslavia, on Wednesday night. The Kosovo territory bordering on Albania came under fire. The Allied forces are possibly clearing a way to ground troops. Yugoslav TV relay stations came under fire all over Serbia. NATO may want to destroy the Yugoslav mass media to win the a propaganda war. Bombs were again dropped on oil and gas terminals in the cities of Srbobran and Sombor. The Russian and European Union mediators heard air alarm alerts in Belgrade but no bombs were dropped on the city.
The NATO buildup on the Yugoslav border reveals plans of a ground invasion. NATO Supreme in Europe US General Wesley Clark said on Wednesday reinforcements would be delivered to bridgehead positions in a matter of days. General Clark was speaking in the Macedonian capital of Skoplje. The Macedonian government has agreed to a two-fold buildup of NATO troops on Macedonian territory. As a result, up to 30 000 NATO troops may take up positions in Macedonia, with another army contingent being deployed in Albania. A total of 50 000 NATO troops and up to 30 000 mercenaries or forcibly drafted Kosovar refugees are to be committed to action in Kosovo. President Clinton is meeting later today with the senior officers of the United States armed forces to discuss moves for a ground invasion.
One more NATO missile exploded on Bulgarian territory near the Bulgarian -Yugoslav border. It is for the ninth time that NATO bombs and missiles fall on Bulgarian territory. The Bulgarian government had earlier given NATO planes the right to fly in Bulgarian air space. Italian defense minister Karlo Skonamillo says NATO airmen have dropped 161 unused bombs and missiles in the Adriatic Sea. Three Italian fishermen were wounded when a NATO bomb exploded right in their fishing net.

June 2

President Yeltsin believes that developments all over the world testify to the fact that strategic partnership between Russia and China is the right choice for the two countries to pursue. Mr.Yeltsin's statement came in his message to his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin. The message was handed over in Beijing today by the Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. According to Mr.Ivanov, President Yeltsin is looking forward to a Russian-Chinese informal summit scheduled for late October-early November. In Beijing Mr.Ivanov met with his Chinese counterpart Tang Jiaxuan. The two sides concentrated on the Balkan crisis. Russia and China demand that NATO immediately stop its military campaign against Yugoslavia. This, they say, is necessary to resolve the conflict. The Russian and Chinese foreign ministers called for a greater role of the United Nations in resolving the crisis in the Balkans and expressed concern over the attempts to introduce a unipolar world and establish a distatorship. The meeting resulted in a joint statement which says any settlement plan must take into account the opinion of Yugoslavia.
The Russian presidential envoy Victor Chernomyrdin and the Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who represents the European Union, will discuss Kosovo with the Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade this night. They will bring a new plan based on Kosovo peace principles agreed on by the G-8. Mr Chernomyrdin and Mr Ahtisaari are flying to Belgrade after the talks in Bonn which also involved US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, who put forward new uncompromising conditions for NATO to stop its bombing campaign so as to allow Yugoslavia to pull out forces from Kosovo. There are indications that the sides somehow managed to bridge major differences between them. The Finnish President describes the Bonn talks as a success. He also says that from Belgrade he will fly to Cologne to brief a summit of the European Union there on his talks with Yugoslav leaders on Kosovo.
The Russian presidential envoy Victor Chernomyrdin says the air campaign against Yugoslavia may stop within a few days, and the Serbian province of Kosovo will enjoy peace under the protection of contingents from NATO and Russia taking orders from separate commands. He announced this after completing urgent talks with the Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott in Bonn today. From Bonn, he and Mr Ahtisaari flew to Belgrade where they expect finishing touches to an understanding between Yugoslavia and NATO on a Serbian troop pull-out from Kosovo and on a future international presence in the southern Serbian province. According to Mr Chernomyrdin, UN Security Council will take charge of the Kosovo peace process after there is an agreement on how to police peace there.
Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov believes this week may see a breakthrough towards peace in Yugoslavia but only if NATO responds to the good will of Russia by calling a halt to its increasingly ferocious bombing campaign. He said this in Beijing where he is on an official visit.
NATO air force has flown a total of over 30 thousand missions to Yugoslavia in the 70 days since the start of its bombing campaign. According to a spokesman in Brussels, NATO bombs and rockets have destroyed 11 rail and 34 road bridges, burnt down or severely crippled nearly half of Yugoslavia's fuel depots, seriously damaged the country's power system and cut all main transport links between central Serbia and Kosovo. Yugoslavia says its has lost over 12 hundred civilian lives to NATO air raids. One third of these fatalities are children.
Wednesday morning saw new scenes of blanket destruction after NATO planes pounded targets in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Pancevo and Ciuprija in Serbia proper and in any parts of the province of Kosovo throughout the night. Those parts of Belgrade that still enjoyed some limited power supply yesterday are now completely blacked out after 7 NATO rockets hit a power plant in Obrenovac 30 kilometers outside the capital. Taps in many districts are running dry and water can only be obtained from cisterns. In Novi Sad in the north, a bomb struck a television tower destroying a motel nearby. Eleven successive waves of air raids on the Kosovo capital Pristina reduced to rubble a Yugoslav army barrack in the outskirts. Local reports say NATO planes started dropping flare bombs in overnight raids on Kosovo. This falls in line with observations that NATO is using Yugoslavia as a range to test new weaponry in its arsenal.

Foreign ministers of Russia and China, Igor Ivanov and Tang Jiaxuan held talks in Beijing today and reached general understanding on questions of bi-lateral cooperation and on pressing international problems. The two ministers spoke at a news conference on the results of the discussions. Igor Ivanov said it had been agreed to hold an informal Russia-China summit in Beijing at the end of October or the beginning of November of this year. In the opinion of the Russian minister, the meeting could give a new impetus to bi-lateral relations. The Russian and Chinese ministers also came to terms on activating bi-lateral relations in the political, economic, military-technological and other fields. Priority was given to the Balkans problem. Russia and China demand that NATO end at once military operations against Yugoslavia. This is a necessary condition for settling the crisis around Kosovo.
Russia has decided to participate in the international presence in Kosovo by having its contingent there. Newsmen were told that on Tuesday evening by the special representative of Russia's president Victor Chernomyrdin, following talks near Bonn with the president of Finland Martti Ahtisaari, US deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Gerhard Schroeder. Victor Chernomyrdin said attention was given at the consultations to how build relations between Russia's presence and NATO in Kosovo. Chancellor Schroeder said agreement was reached on the essence of the problem. The plan worked out in Bonn could be a basis for settling the Kosovo crisis. Victor Chernomyrdin and Martti Ahtisaari are to go to Belgrade for talks today.
Mourning was declared on Tuesday in three cities in Serbia's south. Over 50 civilians were killed and dozens wounded there on Monday as a result of the NATO bombing. What came under bombardment in Surdulitsa was a sanatorium for pulmonary patients, a house for the elderly and a camp of Serb refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina. The bridge, which parishioners used on their way to a church to attend the divine service on the occasion of St. Trinity Day, was destroyed in Varvarino on Sunday night. In the town of Novi Pazar missiles hit a residential area, destroying several houses, a post office, a printing office, and a TV transmitter.

June 1

The Russian President's envoy in the Balkans Viktor Chernomyrdin is holding in Bonn the regular round of talks on Kosovo with the US deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott and Finland's President Martti Ahtisaari, who represents the European Union (EU). Before leaving Moscow Viktor Chernomyrdin said that he had something now to offer and that the new week must lead to the political settlement of the conflict. On June 2nd the Russian envoy and the Finnish President will meet in Belgrade with Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic. Yugoslavia has agreed in principle to the new peace plan on Kosovo, worked out by the Group of Eight countries, but there are certain differences concerning the composition of the international peace-keeping forces that are to be deployed in Kosovo. In Germany a spokesman for the Greens, a party, which is part of the ruling coalition, said that it is necessary to temporarily stop the bombings of Yugoslavia because it is absolutely senseless to hold the talks and drop the bombs at one and the same time.
The Russian defense ministry spokesman Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov has strongly criticized NATO's military action against Yugoslavia, describing it as inadmissible precedent of the use of force for the settlement of the conflict situations. Speaking before the foreign military attaches in Moscow, Leonid Ivashov said that this aggression might lead to the new outbreak of the arms race and might cause the worsening of the international situation. The general has warned that should NATO continue using the talks on Kosovo as a cover for the destruction of Yugoslavia, they would most likely be stopped.
Last night NATO's forces continued their fierce bombings of the civilian targets in Yugoslavia, killing at least 10 civilians in the city of Novi Pazar in Serbia's south. They were killed after the missiles had hit the residential quarter, destroying several houses, the post office, the printing shop, and the TV transmitter. Over 20 people were wounded. Among other targets that came under the bombardment were the power supply systems Rear Belgrade and Nish. As a result, the greater part of Serbia, for the second night in succession, has found itself without electricity. The air raids on Kosovo's administrative centre Pristina continued as well. One of the NATO missiles fell in Albania. Earlier they strayed off course, falling in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Hungary. In Bulgaria the missile even blew off the roof of a house in Sofia. For the period of bombings over 6000 people were killed and wounded in Yugoslavia, and the Yugoslav anti-aircraft battery shot down over 50 NATO warplanes.
The UNESCO Director-general Federico Mayor has called for the stopping of the bombings of Yugoslavia, in view of the fact that Belgrade has agreed to the terms for the settlement of the Kosovo crisis, that were put forward by the Group of Eight countries. His statement that was distributed in Paris, says that one must not forget that the bombs are falling on innocent people and that, most likely, NATO's current actions have for an object Yugoslavia's complete destruction and capitulation.
On June 1st Russia's foreign minister Igor Ivanov started his official visit to China. Paramount attention at the talks with China's President Jiang Zemin and the other senior officials, due to be held on June 2nd, will be paid to the preparations for the Russian President Boris Yeltsin's visit to Beijing, which is set for this autumn, and also to the urgent international problems, in the first place, to the crisis situations around Yugoslavia and Iraq and also to the settlement on the Korean Peninsula and in other parts of Asia. The statement, issued by the Chinese foreign ministry in view of the Russian minister's visit, notes the unanimity of the two sides' stands on the settlement in the Balkans.

In the past two days the number of victims of the NATO bombing in Serbia has been the greatest. At least 37 people were killed and another 100 injured. On Monday NATO aircraft bombed the city of Novi Pazar in Serbia's south-west. According to the TANJUG news agency, 20 missiles killed no less than 10 persons and injured 20 others. The building of the "Unity" publishing house and the TV and radio stations were ruined. Around midnight there were three powerful explosions in Belgrade cutting electricity supplies. Yesterday the population of Novi Sad and Nis was also left without electricity because the night before the NATO aircraft delivered air strikes against "Nicola Tesla" electric power station and the transformer station near Novi Sad. Alarm signals sounded in Belgrade and other Serbian cities three times during the day.
Russia has been stepping up efforts to put an end to the bombing of Yugoslavia and to resolve the Kosovo conflict through diplomatic means. On Monday the Russian Prime Minister Sergey Stepashin held a telephone conversation with the American president Bill Clinton and Russian president's envoy to the Balkans Victor Chernomyrdin is conducting today a regular round of talks on Yugoslavia with the US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and the Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari in Bonn. The Finnish president represents the European Union. On Wednesday Victor Chernomyrdin and Martti Ahtisaari intend to arrive in Belgrade.
The speaker of the Russian State Duma Gennady Seleznev believes that to fairly assess the results of the 20th century an international tribunal should condemn NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia. In an interview with the press he said that he came up with a proposal to create an international tribunal on NATO. He said that consultations with Russian and foreign lawyers are currently under way. According to Gennady Seleznev, the aim of such international tribunal should be to condemn every killer of every Yugoslav civilian.
The UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor called on Monday for an end of bombing against Yugoslavia now that Belgrade had accepted the terms for a peace settlement of the Kosovo crisis suggested by the G-8 countries. His statement circulated in Paris says it must be remembered that the bombing killed civilians. The Swedish Prime Minister Joran Persson also lashed criticism at the NATO military operation against Yugoslavia which caused suffering to the population. He said that the NATO bombing of hospitals and residential areas could not be justified.

May 31

Yugoslavia has announced that it had accepted the G-8 peace plan for Kosovo. This was said in a statement issued by President Slobodan Milosevic's office and broadcast by the Yugoslav news agency TANJUG. The report of the news agency says that in keeping with the plan the United Nations' Security Council should work out a resolution to allow a settlement of the crisis by diplomatic means and not by the use of force. The Russian President's special envoy on the Balkans Viktor Chernomyrdin repeatedly visited Belgrade of late to discuss the G-8 plan. That plan, notably, stipulates an end to violence in Kosovo, a return of refugees and the deployment of peace-keepers, as well as granting broad autonomy to Kosovo while preserving the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia.
In Yugoslavia, more than 40 civilians died on Monday as a result of NATO bombings. Eleven people died in a missile attack on a river bridge in the city of Varvarin, 160 km south of Belgrade. At the moment of the attack, many cars were crossing the bridge. The NATO command confirmed it had attacked the bridge deliberately, as a strategic target. Another eleven people died in a recreation center in Surdulitsa, 290 km south of the capital. The number of victims may increase since many people can be buried under the debris of the buildings. There were refugees from Kosovo in the center. In Kosovo itself, a missile hit two motor vehicles with foreign reporters, the driver of one of them was killed, among the wounded are reporters from Britain, Italy and Portugal. In Ripan, a city west of Belgrade, an elderly woman was killed when a missile hit her house. Since the beginning of air strikes in Yugoslavia more than 6 thousand people have been killed or wounded. Yugoslav air-defense systems have brought down 50 NATO aircraft.
Russian presidential envoy on the Balkans Victor Chernomyrdin resumes talks on Kosovo in Bonn on June 1st with the US deputy state secretary Strobe Talbott and Finland's president Martti Ahtisaari who represents the European Union. The three men had talks in Moscow throughout the past week, and the stumbling block was a composition of the projected international peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Unlike the United States, Russia and Yugoslavia feel such an operation should be carried out under the UN flag and not NATO, and without the countries that are taking part in the current aggression in the Balkans. Russia demands an end to the bombings of Yugoslavia as a primary condition for the beginning of peace talks.

NATO aircraft steps up the air-campaign against Yugoslavia. Earlier today five powerful explosions tore through Belgrade. According to the news agency BETA, one of the targets was an electric power station in the suburbs of the capital city. As a result of the bombing several districts were plunged into darkness. NATO planes also bombed power supply facilities in the city Nis. In the city Surdulica, in the south-east of Serbia, NATO aircraft fired several missiles at a sanatorium, where refugees reportedly made their home. As a result, at least 11 people died, and many were injured. On Sunday some 40 civilians were killed in NATO air raids. Over 20 people died in the city Krusevac. Bombs and missiles went off near the St. Trinity church and the market place, with many people doing the shopping at the time. 11 dead bodies were found in and taken out of the river Western Morava near the city Krusevac, in central Serbia, after four missiles had hit the bridge with many cars and lots of pedestrians there at the time. About 10 more people died in various parts of Yugoslavia. In Kosovo a NATO missile hit two cars with foreign journalists, ten kilometres away from the town Prizren. One driver was killed, and journalists from Italy, Britain and Portugal were injured. Since NATO launched its aggression, over 1,200 people have been killed and more than 5,000 others have been injured in Yugoslavia. According to the Yugoslav authorities, a third of those killed are children.
President of Finland has said in Helsinki that on Tuesday, June 1st, The Russian President`s special envoy to the Balkans Viktor Chernomyrdin, the deputy US State Secretary Strobe Talbott and Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari will have another meeting to search for a political settlement in Yugoslavia. The venue of the meeting will be decided on later today. Whether President Ahtisaari will or will not go to Belgrade to meet President Slobodan Milosevic will depend on the results of the tripartite meeting. Meanwhile, the American Senator Richard Lugar on a visit to Moscow, has said that Chernomyrdin and Talbott will hold another round of talks in Bonn on Tuesday.

May 30

NATO warplanes carried out more airstrikes overnight. The Yugoslav news agency TANJUG reports about 15 missiles hit Belgrade and its outskirts. There were explosions in the Rakovica district, near Batajnica airport, Strajevica Mountain and near the town of Bubani-Potok about fifteen kilometers south-east of Belgrade. A number of civilian sites came under attack in Kosovo. Two people are reported to have been killed and 6 others wounded on the road between the town of Prizren and the ski resort of Brezovica. A number of population centers, radio and television transmitters and bridges were hit on Saturday. Six people were killed and more than l0 others wounded. About one hundred buildings were destroyed in the central Serbian town of Kuprija. Twenty-six missiles fell in the outskirts of the town of Prizren. There were bomb explosions in the Kosovo capital Pristina and Jablanica in southeast Serbia.
One third of those killed and 40 percent of wounded in the air raids in Yugoslavia are children. The announcement was made at a news conference in Moscow by the Chairperson of the Yugoslav Commission for Cooperation with the UN Children's Fund Margit Savovic. According to the RIA Novisti news agency Ms. Savovic said more than 1 thousand and 200 civilians have been killed and over 5 thousand wounded in Yugoslavia since the bombing campaign began.
The largest opposition party in Serbia - the Serbian Renewal Movement - has hailed the decision of the Yugoslav government to approve the settlement plan for the Balkans put forward by the group of 8 world powers. The decision of the Yugoslav government was announced on Friday after talks in Belgrade between President Slobodan Milosevic and the Russian presidential envoy - Viktor Chernomyrdin. The plan of the G8 group provides for keeping Yugoslavia's sovereignty over Kosovo and deploying a UN peacekeeping force in the region. Two other opposition parties in Serbia - The Democratic Party and New Democracy have also supported this plan to resolve the Kosovo crisis.
France and Germany have called for an urgent meeting of G-8 countries to look into Belgrade's statement about its readiness to accept the principles of a settlement. The proposal was made during a summit in Toulouse with the participation of President Jaque Chirac and Prime-Minister Leonel Jospen of France and Chancellor Gerhard Shroeder of Germany.
The Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has said that in the next few days Moscow intended to make new efforts in all directions to achieve a political solution to the crisis over Yugoslavia. He said, however, that there was a difficult situation in the negotiating process. Mr. Ivanov pointed out that Russia's efforts, including the efforts of the presidential envoy, Viktor Chernomyrdin, had not received support and understanding of NATO leadership. He said that the alliance continued to demand that Belgrade and the international community accept its ultimatum conditions. Mr. Ivanov stressed that it was not clear on what ground NATO asserted that it acted on behalf of the international community.

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