Heat on Russia envoy as Ivanov condemns NATO By Timothy Heritage
MOSCOW, June 7 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov expressed deep concern on Monday about NATO's handling of the Kosovo crisis, and pressure mounted on Balkan envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin to resign for being too soft.
Ivanov criticised NATO on his arrival in Bonn for talks with seven major powers after hopes of a quick end to alliance air strikes on Yugoslavia faded with the breakdown of talks between NATO and Yugoslav generals who had been meeting in Macedonia.
``NATO has considerably raised the level of its demands and continues bombing,'' RIA news agency quoted Ivanov as saying before talks with the foreign ministers of Japan, the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Canada.
``This causes deep concern in Moscow,'' he said.
Ivanov said in televised comments that NATO had sought to include political declarations in a planned United Nations resolution on sending an international force to Kosovo when Serb troops withdraw.
``NATO has tried to insert into the document a whole number of fundamental political issues. Only the U.N. Security Council is authorised to decide on these issues,'' he said.
His comments reflected dissatisfaction in Moscow over the Kosovo peace process, and particularly over NATO's refusal to halt the air strikes even though Belgrade has accepted the peace plan agreed by Chernomyrdin with the West last week.
Chernomyrdin, who did not go to Bonn, kept a low profile on Monday. He has been accused by Communists and nationalists of betraying Moscow's interests and caving in to NATO's demands by putting Russia's name to the peace plan.
In an ominous sign for Chernomyrdin, Russian news agencies said Ivanov was accompanied in Bonn by Leonid Ivashov, a general who has openly criticised the plan despite being part of the Balkan envoy's delegation at talks in Belgrade last week.
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, whose party is the biggest single force in the lower house of parliament, said the chamber was preparing a resolution urging President Boris Yeltsin to sack Chernomyrdin as his special envoy.
``He has gone from special representative to special destroyer,'' Interfax news agency quoted Zyuganov as saying, repeating accusations that the peace plan could lead to a further breakup of Yugoslavia.
The lower house, or State Duma, has no powers to force Chernomyrdin out but it would increase pressure on Yeltsin and his envoy.
Communist Gennady Seleznyov, the Duma's speaker, said the Foreign Ministry should take over Kosovo diplomacy.
``It would be correct if our Foreign Ministry professionally conducted all talks on Yugoslavia for the Russian side,'' Seleznyov told Interfax.
Russian leaders offered no direct reaction to the failure of the talks in Macedonia, but a military source told Interfax that Moscow was hoping the military talks would resume soon.
``It is certainly possible to get the talks back on track and we are not inclined to dramatise the situation,'' the source said.
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Chernomyrdin on Russia's Role in Kosovo Peace Talks: Comment
Moscow, June 7 (Bloomberg) -- Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russia's special envoy to Yugoslavia, who together with Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari brokered peace negotiations between the Yugoslav government and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization last week, said a peace settlement in Kosovo will meet Russia's national security interests, Russian news agency Interfax reported. Talks collapsed after Yugoslav representatives rejected NATO's proposal on withdrawal of troops from Kosovo and the western alliance said it will intensify bombing. Chernomyrdin has been accused by political opponents at home and Russian military officials of a too- hasty compromise with NATO's conditions and betrayal of Serbia's and Russia's interests. The following is a translation of some of Chernomyrdin's comments, reported by Interfax:
During the negotiations ``I though about Russia, about the country's security in a way to prevent joining war in the Balkans. We have already experienced it once.'' In World War I ``we stood just for Serbia, lost 7 million compatriots and eventually found ourselves alone against everyone else.''
Referring to politicians who are urging Russia to get involved in military conflict, Chernomyrdin said: ``We see them under a red banner. . This cannot be allowed as this will be the last war.''
The nation's pride ``should be directed to restore Russia and its economy.''
In the case of Russian participation in a peacemaking force in Kosovo, Russian troops ``will never be subordinate to NATO, this is ruled out. . By our legislation, by our moral standards Russian force will not be under NATO's command. That is the president's directive.''
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Russian Military Blame NATO For Collapse Of Kosovo Pullout Talks
MOSCOW, Jun 7, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) The Russian military on Monday blamed NATO for the collapse of talks on securing a pullout of Yugoslav troops from Kosovo, and accused a senior British commander of exceeding his authority, Interfax news agency reported.
A military official cited by Interfax accused NATO of seeking to dictate the terms of the withdrawal of Serb forces from the troubled province ahead of the deployment of an international peace force.
"The UN Security Council has been left outside the framework of the talks, which violates the peace agreements reached during the Chernomyrdin-Ahtisaari-Talbott trilateral talks in Bonn," the official said.
He was referring to Russia's Kosovo envoy Victor Chernomyrdin, his EU counterpart Martti Ahtisaari and US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott who devised a peace plan accepted by Belgrade on Thursday.
Moscow insists peacekeepers can only be deployed in Kosovo under the auspices of the United Nations, as provided for under the peace plan.
The Russian official accused NATO's chief negotiator at the pullout talks - Lt.-Gen. Michael Jackson -- of overreaching himself during two days of negotiations at the Yugoslav-Macedonian border.
Jackson "has taken on too much responsibility. Decisions on any international presence in Kosovo are not made at his level," the military source said.
The British general said Yugoslav proposals were "not consistent" with the agreed peace plan and "would not provide a safe return of the refugees and full withdrawal of Serb troops.
"There is no alternative but to continue and intensify the bombardments until the Yugoslav side is prepared to implement their commitment," he said.
Despite the hitch, the Russian military source said Moscow hoped negotiations would resume quickly: "It is certainly possible to get the talks back on track, and we are not inclined to dramatize the current situation."