Moscow Times June 4, 1999 Deal Seen As Russia's Capitulation By Andrei Zolotov Jr. Staff Writer
The Kosovo peace plan accepted Thursday by Yugoslavia may have champagne corks popping in the West, but back in Russia special envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin faces a tough task defending the plan and his role in the negotiations.
The Russian public and politicians have been frustrated by his failure to win substantial concessions from NATO, and the settlement plan announced Thursday is almost certain to be seen as a near total capitulation to the Western military alliance.
The deal - which says NATO airstrikes may continue until the beginning of a Serbian withdrawal is verified and leaves unclear who will exercise the "unified control and command" of international security personnel "with an essential NATO participation" - looks like a surrender of Russian demands for an immediate halt to the bombings and for putting the United Nations firmly in charge of peacekeeping.
At least on the ever-growing anti-Western flank of Russian politics, the peace plan is perceived as Chernomyrdin's failure to defend Yugoslavia's and Russia's interests against heavy pressure from Washington and other NATO powers.
Upon his return to Moscow on Thursday evening, Chernomyrdin, apparently aware of the harsh criticism, appeared to try to shift responsibility toward President Boris Yeltsin, who approved the instructions for the Russian delegation. "Russia has not retreated from those principles that were worked out under the direction of [Yeltsin]," he said.
Even before the details of the Bonn agreement were released, left-wing and nationalist State Duma deputies began their session Thursday morning by lashing out at Chernomyrdin.
The Duma voted to invite high-level representatives of the Foreign and Defense ministries, as well as Yugoslav ambassador to Moscow, Borislav Milosevic, for immediate hearings. But after Yeltsin's representative in the Duma, Alexander Kotenkov, insisted that no one would report to the Duma before Russian negotiators reported to Yeltsin, the hearings were postponed until 5 p.m. Friday.
Fueling the harsh reaction of the deputies were media reports that Russian generals who were part of Chernomyrdin's negotiating team disagreed with the envoy. Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, who is in charge of the military's foreign contacts and is known for his hawkish position on Yugoslavia, was a member of Russian delegation.
Chernomyrdin and Ivashov denied that there were disagreements.Ivashov, however, said the military part of Russia's delegation was "not quite satisfied with the imposed role of NATO and the diminishing of Russia's position in the conflict settlement."
Agrarian faction leader Nikolai Kharitonov accused Chernomyrdin of carrying out a "Munich conspiracy" by appeasing NATO. "Even the generals who were at the negotiations with Chernomyrdin are puzzled," Kharitonov said at the Duma session.
While representatives of Chernomyrdin's Our Home Is Russia party attempted to defend their boss, nationalist Deputy Vladimir Zhirinovsky attacked both the former prime minister and the Agrarians, saying that "a gas specialist should not be working in foreign policy," nor should agricultural lobbyists meddle in Balkan affairs.
The Duma opposition's negative reaction to Chernomyrdin's efforts is not entirely new. Earlier this week, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov labeled Chernomyrdin not a special envoy, but a "special traitor."
"I have not heard from Chernomyrdin any coherent programs connected with a Yugoslavia settlement," Zyuganov said. "If he carries out the assignments of [U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine] Albright, [her deputy Strobe] Talbott or whoever else, he is playing the role of a special traitor in order to successfully sell out our interests in the Balkans."
Vladimir Lukin, member of the liberal Yabloko party and chairman of the international affairs committee, tried to introduce some moderation into Thursday's heated discussion. He said deputies should find out the details of the negotiations before making a judgment.
In a telephone interview Thursday, moderate left-leaning nationalist Alexei Podberyozkin, who is deputy chairman of the Duma's foreign affairs committee, predicted that when the deputies hear diplomats' and generals' reports on Friday, their reaction will be sharply negative.
"The conditions that Chernomyrdin brought to Belgrade are absolutely unacceptable," Podberyozkin said. "It is impossible to withdraw troops under bombings.
"America needs a victory. In this case, that is precisely what this turns out to be: Yugoslavia has been broken by NATO's strikes and will be occupied. Chernomyrdin brought [to Belgrade] the conditions for Yugoslavia's capitulation," Podberyozkin said.
Only last week Chernomyrdin had warned in an article in The Washington Post that if NATO did not stop its bombings, Russia might withdraw from the negotiating process. His public appeal, which reiterated that Russia's role was to mediate and not to sell NATO's demands to Belgrade, was in response to U.S. President Bill Clinton's article in the New York Times on May 23, in which he said that Russia was "helping to work out a way for Belgrade to meet our conditions."
Clinton turns out to have been right, Podberyozkin said. "Russia, represented by Chernomyrdin, negotiated not even on behalf of NATO, but on behalf of the U.S.A."
Yeltsin's attempt to give Chernomyrdin a chance to earn political capital at home, which could have increased his meager chances in next year's presidential elections, has failed, Podberyozkin said. "Chernomyrdin has proved once again that as a politician, he is null."
But standing behind Chernomyrdin's apparent failure to win more substantial concessions from NATO is a greater problem of Russia's current economic weakness and dependence on the West.
Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin countered nationalist frustration with Russia's role in the Balkan crisis by saying Thursday that it is wrong to keep saying how "great" Russia is while it is "treated like a third-rate power."
Russia can only speak of its greatness when it achieves a "European level" in GDP, standard of living, and development of science and culture, Stepashin said.