[ALBSA-Info] Euro Leaders Praise Milosevic Effort

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Euro Leaders Praise Milosevic Effort

By JIM HEINTZ

  
MOSCOW (AP) - European leaders expressed their approval as Yugoslav police 
tried to arrest former President Slobodan Milosevic on Saturday, while Russia 
warned that other countries should stay out of the controversy. 

Police tried to seize Milosevic, who is wanted by the U.N. war crimes 
tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, but were turned back by fire from his 
personal guards at his villa in Belgrade. 

The police action came on the very day the U.S. Congress had set as a 
deadline for Yugoslavia to begin cooperating with the tribunal or to face the 
loss of some $50 million in assistance. 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko appeared to make 
reference to the U.S. position in comments to the news agency ITAR-Tass. 

``Any pressure from outside on the leadership of Yugoslavia in connection 
with these questions would not only be interference in the internal affairs 
of a sovereign state but could weaken the position of the democratic forces 
of the country,'' he said. 

Yakovenko did not mention any specific countries, but Moscow has expressed 
concerns in the past about U.S. attempts to dominate world affairs. 

Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, offered approval of the 
action by the government of President Vojislav Kostunica, who took over the 
country last October after Milosevic was ousted in an uprising following his 
refusal to accept electoral defeat. 

``The authority of the Hague tribunal has always been the position of the 
European Commission. ... I have encouraged the Serbian democracy and Mr. 
Kostunica in this direction,'' Prodi said. 

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin was more blunt. 

``For us, the decision taken by the Belgrade authorities to proceed with his 
arrest ... is an extremely important step,'' he said. 

There was no immediate U.S. reaction to Saturday's standoff. On Friday, 
President Bush said ``we'll cooperate in any way that we're asked to do so.'' 

Beyond legal issues, the White House has not been eager to take actions that 
could undermine Yugoslavia's fledgling pro-Western government, which is 
struggling to cope with the devastation wrought under Milosevic. 

During his decade in power, which saw Yugoslavia fragment, Milosevic often 
had looked for support to Russia - like Yugoslavia a predominantly Slavic, 
Orthodox Christian country. 

Russia vehemently opposed the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 but resisted 
being drawn into the conflict or supplying advanced anti-aircraft systems to 
the Yugoslav army. 

And although Russia frequently criticized KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping 
force that entered Kosovo after the Yugoslav army withdrew in 1999, it 
waffled over Yugoslavia's political turmoil. 

President Vladimir Putin eventually sent a letter recognizing Kostunica as 
the winner of the presidential election, a move that appeared to seal 
Milosevic's downfall. 

Yakovenko, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said countries concerned about the 
Balkans, where ethnic Albanian rebels are fighting the Macedonian army just 
south of Yugoslavia, should ``unify their powers to work against sorties of 
international terrorism.'' 

``The most important element in these powers is the utmost strengthening and 
support of the current democratic leadership of Yugoslavia,'' he said. 

A spokesman for the war crimes tribunal, Jim Landale, said developments were 
being watched closely. ``If and when they do arrest him, it's hopefully a 
step closer to them being able to transfer him to our custody,'' he said. 

Ultranationalist Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, meanwhile, 
criticized the attempt to arrest Milosevic. 

``There are no doubts a decision regarding oppression of the former Yugoslav 
president was made in the United States,'' the Interfax news agency quoted 
him as saying.