[ALBSA-Info] Russia Offers Yugoslavia Mediation/Russia Ready to Send Foreign Minister to Belgrade/Albright Welcomes Russian Offer to Go to Belgrade/Serb Opposition Leader Says Arbitration Needed/Russia Says Hasn't Seen Yugoslav Vote Count Yet

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1. Russia Offers Yugoslavia Mediation
2. Russia Ready to Send Foreign Minister to Belgrade
3. Albright Welcomes Russian Offer to Go to Belgrade
4. Serb Opposition Leader Says Arbitration Needed
5. Russia Says Hasn't Seen Yugoslav Vote Count Yet

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#1.
Russia Offers Yugoslavia Mediation

By MISHA SAVIC
 
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - With the opposition threatening to paralyze 
Yugoslavia unless Slobodan Milosevic steps aside, Russia's president offered 
Saturday to send his foreign minister to mediate the crisis. 

The offer came as Milosevic, seeking to shore up his support among the armed 
forces, addressed graduation exercises Saturday at the Yugoslav military 
academy and congratulated the newly commissioned officers for serving ``at a 
time of great temptation for our people and state.'' 

He reminded them of the military's duty to defend ``our freedom and the 
independence of our country,'' which the government claims is at risk because 
of alleged Western interference in the Yugoslav election. 

Tensions have been rising here since the opposition claimed its candidate 
Vojislav Kostunica won last Sunday's election with 51.34 percent to 36.22 
percent for Milosevic, the incumbent president. The Federal Electoral 
Commission says Kostunica fell short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff 
Oct. 8. 

Opposition leaders threaten to launch a nationwide general strike Monday 
unless Milosevic accepts defeat. 

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Saturday to send Foreign 
Minister Igor Ivanov to Belgrade to meet with both sides. Russia is among 
Belgrade's strongest allies and has warned the West to avoid meddling in the 
election here. 

``If Belgrade finds it possible, Russia would be prepared to play a higher 
profile in the process of settlement and coordination of positions,'' Putin 
said, according to the Kremlin press service. 

There was no immediate reaction from the government, but opposition leaders 
welcomed the offer. 

``Mr. Ivanov is most welcome if he is going to help establish the true 
situation with the election results, to help compare the lists and counts 
that we have with those announced by the Federal Election Commission,'' said 
Goran Svilanovic, a leader of the 18-party opposition alliance. 

On Friday, students, shopkeepers, television workers and actors rallied 
across Yugoslavia, while several roads were blocked in the north and south of 
the country and more than 7,000 coal miners stopped work in Kolubara, 25 
miles south of Belgrade, to protest the government's alleged falsifying of 
the results. 

Opposition speakers urged their followers to join a nationwide civil 
disobedience campaign throughout Yugoslavia's main republic, Serbia, to drive 
Milosevic from power. 

``To purge the rats from their holes, we need to stop everything in Serbia,'' 
opposition campaign manager Zoran Djindjic, told the crowd Friday. ``On 
Monday, everything must halt to force Slobodan Milosevic from the place that 
no longer belongs to him.'' 

It was uncertain whether the opposition would succeed. News of opposition 
activity travels with difficulty - mostly by word of mouth - since the lone 
independent radio station was off the air in central Belgrade, where most of 
the capital's residents live, and the cellular phone network was jammed 
during the protests. 

Two protests in Belgrade's main Republic Square drew more than 50,000 people. 
Although the crowd was a fraction of the 200,000 who turned out Wednesday 
night, opposition leaders took heart in the fact that protests were spreading 
nationwide. 

About 20,000 people gathered in Kragujevac and 10,000 in Kraljevo in central 
Serbia. In Novi Sad, the second-largest Serbian city, six employees of the 
state television were fired for wanting to organize a strike. 

Similar walkouts - joined by shopkeepers and company employees - were staged 
in a dozen other cities and towns across Serbia, including the opposition 
strongholds of Cacak and Sabac. 

In Montenegro, the other republic in the Yugoslav federation, a leading 
Milosevic ally called for the electoral body to double-check its results, a 
move indicating cracks in the pro-Milosevic camp there. 

``In the current circumstances, the results released by the Federal Election 
Commission should not be accepted as final,'' Zoran Zizic told the newspaper 
Vijesti. ``There are no reasons not to compare the Commission's results with t
he results given by (opposition) participants in the elections.'' 

On Friday, Serbia's opposition lodged an official complaint with the Federal 
Election Commission. 

If the commission fails to respond to their complaint, the opposition will 
press the case to the country's constitutional court. Opposition leaders have 
said Greece and Norway are ready to send observers to arbitrate the election 
dispute. 


#2.
Russia Ready to Send Foreign Minister to Belgrade

By Peter Graff

MOSCOW, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday 
Moscow was ready to take a more active role in resolving the political 
standoff in Yugoslavia and offered to send his foreign minister to Belgrade. 

But Putin sounded a cautious note, saying any Russian action would come only 
with Belgrade's agreement, and only Yugoslavia's election commission or a 
court could declare the election process over. 

``I would be prepared to send Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to Yugoslavia, 
right now, for consultations with all participants in the political process 
in the country,'' Putin said in brief televised excerpts of comments to 
Russian journalists. 

``But this decision of course must be agreed be with Belgrade. If Belgrade 
agrees, we are prepared for even more active participation in the process of 
resolution and the process of agreeing positions,'' he said. 

The Yugoslav opposition has already called on friendly nations, particularly 
Greece, to persuade President Slobodan Milosevic to agree to an impartial 
recount of last Sunday's presidential poll. 

A Greek Foreign Ministry official said on Saturday Athens was willing to help 
broker a solution and would send observers to recount votes from the election 
if asked. 

Yugoslavia's opposition has also been courting Moscow's backing for its 
claims that its candidate, Vojislav Kostunica, won the election. 

``It is obvious that we have reached a situation in which some sort of 
arbitration, in the sense of expertise, is needed,'' head of the opposition 
Democratic Party, Zoran Djindjic, told Reuters by telephone in Belgrade. 

``As far as the Democratic Opposition of Serbia is concerned we accept that 
initiative, the initiative to have arbitration at expert level.'' 

Interfax news agency also quoted Putin as saying: ``The Yugoslav people must 
determine its fate itself and without any interference. Otherwise the 
legitimacy of the next president could be questioned.'' 

``Only the central elections commission or a court can declare the election 
process complete,'' Interfax quoted him as saying. The Kremlin confirmed the 
remarks. 

The Yugoslav election commission has said Kostunica fell just short of a 50 
percent majority, and ordered a second round run-off. Kostunica's supporters 
and Western governments say the official results include bogus votes for 
Milosevic. 

Moscow supported Serbia in confrontations with the West over Kosovo last 
year, and Milosevic would suffer a major blow if the Kremlin were to withdraw 
its support. 

Publicly, Russia has so far declined to take sides in the dispute and has 
criticised the West for doing so. 

But Western officials who met Putin this week, including German Chancellor 
Gerhard Schroeder and French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, suggested the 
Kremlin's unstated position may be closer to the West's than its public 
statements would indicate. 

Interfax quoted Foreign Ministry sources as saying Russia had received 11 
pages of complaints prepared by Yugoslavia's opposition challenging the 
official results in the election. The Foreign Ministry declined to comment. 


#3.
Albright Welcomes Russian Offer to Go to Belgrade

REYKJAVIK, Sept 30 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on 
Saturday welcomed Russia's offer to send its foreign minister to Belgrade to 
help resolve the political standoff in Yugoslavia. 

In comments made during her visit to Iceland, Albright said that Moscow 
should show that it recognised that the Yugoslav opposition had won last 
week's election. 

The opposition say they won the election outright and are rejecting a ruling 
by the Yugoslav electoral commission for a run-off between President Slobodan 
Milosevic and his challenger Vojislav Kostunica. 

Albright noted that she was not certain that the Russian Foreign Minister 
Igor Ivanov was going to Belgrade, but that she would be speaking to him 
shortly. 

``I am not sure that Foreign Minister Ivanov is going,'' she said, when asked 
her interpretation of President Vladimir Putin's remarks earlier on Saturday 
to Russian media that he may send Ivanov to Belgrade. 

``I'm about to speak to Foreign Minister Ivanov,'' Albright told a news confer
ence. 

She went on: ``I think that it's a good idea. I think that the Russians need 
to make clear also that they understand that this has been a procedure in 
which the opposition has won.'' 

Albright said she had earlier told the Russian foreign minister that if 
Moscow had doubts about the Yugoslav opposition's claims to outright victory 
in last Sunday's election, that they should check the evidence for 
themselves. 

She did not rule out another meeting of the six-nation Contact Group, set up 
to coordinate Balkans policy. 

The Contact Group, comprising Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the 
United States, last met this month, for the first time since NATO's war over 
the Serbian province of Kosovo. 

``We certainly are all in contact with each other but whether as a Contact 
Group we will meet or not, I'm not sure it's possible,'' she said. 


#4.
Serb Opposition Leader Says Arbitration Needed

BELGRADE, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A Serb opposition leader said on Saturday that 
arbitration at expert level was needed over the disputed outcome of last 
weekend's presidential election, which the opposition says its candidate won 
outright. 

Democratic Party head Zoran Djindjic was asked to comment on news from Moscow 
that Russian President Vladimir Putin was prepared to send Foreign Minister 
Igor Ivanov to Belgrade to meet with ``participants in Yugoslavia's political 
process.'' 

``It is obvious that we have reached a situation in which some sort of 
arbitration, in the sense of expertise, is needed,'' Djindjic told Reuters. 

``As far as the Democratic Opposition of Serbia is concerned we accept that 
initiative, the initiative to have arbitration at expert level,'' he said by 
telephone. 

Putin was quoted as saying that the visit would first have to be agreed with 
Belgrade. 

Russia has so far declined to join the West in pressing Yugoslav President 
Slobodan Milosevic to step down after losing the September 24 poll, but the 
Yugoslav opposition has been actively courting Moscow's support. 

Opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica's supporters, as well as most Western 
governments, say Kostunica won an outright majority in the vote and Milosevic 
must step down. 

But the Yugoslav election commission has said Kostunica fell just short of 50 
percent. The commission has ordered a second round of the poll on October 8, 
which the opposition says it will boycott. 

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Foreign Ministry sources as saying 
Russia had received 11 pages of complaints prepared by Yugoslavia's 
opposition challenging the official results in the election. 

Djindjic said the opposition had nothing to fear from arbitration. ``We are 
not scared of that because we have evidence showing that we are right.'' 

``The Federal Electoral Commission is scared of such an initiative because 
they can not even show to us their evidence showing that the results they 
have presented are correct,'' Djindjic said. 

Russia has so far said it does not want to interfere in the election outcome. 
Moscow supported Serbia in confrontations with the West over Kosovo last 
year, and Milosevic would suffer a major blow if the Kremlin were to withdraw 
support. 


#5.
Russia Says Hasn't Seen Yugoslav Vote Count Yet

By Oleg Shchedrov

MOSCOW, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Russia, which has said it will not interfere in 
Yugoslavia's presidential election outcome, said on Friday it had yet to 
receive promised documents from opposition leaders which they say prove their 
candidate won. 

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine dismissed as a ``speculative 
hypothesis'' any notion that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic might seek 
refuge in Russia and said the issue had not been raised in his two days of 
Kremlin talks. 

Vedrine said the Russians felt the West overestimated any influence Moscow 
might have on events in Yugoslavia. 

In Belgrade, opposition leaders said on Thursday they had sent proof by 
diplomatic mail that Vojislav Kostunica had defeated Milosevic outright and 
that a decision to call a run-off vote was illegal. 

The Democratic Opposition of Serbia said it wanted Russia to compare 
conflicting returns and made clear they wanted President Vladimir Putin to 
take its side and urge Milosevic to go. 

``So far we have not received any such information from Belgrade and so we 
have no comment,'' a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said by telephone. 
The presidential administration, parliament and government had no comment. 

Western leaders who have discussed the Yugoslav crisis with Putin this week 
appear to have formed the view that the Kremlin has shifted away from 
Milosevic. But they say public gestures from Moscow are unlikely at this 
point. 

Last year, Russia froze relations with NATO after the alliance launched a 
military operation against Serbia forcing it to end ethnic cleansing in the 
rebel region of Kosovo. 

Russia later played a key role in brokering a deal between Milosevic and NATO 
and it takes part in the alliance's peacekeeping operation in Kosovo. That 
crisis damaged Moscow's ties with the West without giving it any political 
benefits at home or abroad. 

Putin, who is busy establishing new relations with the West after he himself 
was elected in March, has appeared reluctant to allow Milosevic to upset his 
plans this time. 

The new Russian leader, whose foreign policy is often described by domestic 
political analysts as pragmatic, kept silent as Western leaders congratulated 
Kostunica with victory. 

His foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, who had resorted to strong anti-Western 
rhetoric in the previous crisis, said on Thursday that Russia would not put 
pressure on either side. 

VEDRINE SAYS NO DISCUSSION OF ASYLUM FOR MILOSEVIC 

Vedrine told a news conference he wanted no involvement in any speculation 
about Milosevic seeking refuge in Moscow. 

``We didn't discuss this. This is a purely speculative hypothesis. The 
Russian authorities told me that nothing of the sort is being prepared,'' he 
said. 

``Since it has become necessary to talk regularly about problems dealing with 
Yugoslavia, the Russians keep telling me that we in the West are exaggerating 
considerably their influence over what happens in that country.'' 

The main issue was to ``encourage this extremely brave democratic movement 
which has been speaking out since Sunday.'' 

A Foreign Ministry spokesman rejected as ``rumours'' media reports that 
Milosevic or his family might already be in Russia. 

On Thursday, Vedrine said he had noted no support in Russia for Milosevic, 
but said there were limits for Putin as Russia is ry largely sympathetic to 
the Serbs and suspicious of the West. 

Vedrine said he favoured arranging a public comparison of Yugoslav election 
figures, but did not specify whether he discussed the issue with Putin. 

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told reporters in Moscow this week that 
he and Putin had agreed that the Yugoslav people had ``decided in favour 
democratic change,'' but gave no details. 

Putin simply said he concurred with Schroeder. 

Some Russian political analysts said Moscow could find it awkward to offer 
shelter to another political pariah wanted for crimes against humanity after 
it had to extradite former East German leader Erich Honecker to Germany in 
1993. 

``Russia should try and mediate between Milosevic and the opposition to help 
create conditions for comparing the results of the first round,'' Sevodnya 
daily quoted parliament member and former ambassador to Washington Vladimir 
Lukin as saying.