[ALBSA-Info] Putin Discusses Plan for Balkan

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Putin Discusses Plan for Balkans

By FISNIK ABRASHI
  
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - A day after expressing concern about NATO 
expansion, Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unscheduled stop Sunday 
in Kosovo, where NATO commanders call the shots for some 3,000 Russian 
peacekeeping troops. 

The first Russian president to visit Yugoslavia since the 1991 breakup of the 
Soviet Union, Putin was balancing a desire to reassert Russia's interests in 
the Balkans with his professed willingness to work with the Western alliance. 

``We came here to see what kind of cooperation exists, what kinds of problems 
exist here and how to address and resolve those problems,'' he said in brief 
comments before departing for Moscow. 

Putin arrived in Yugoslavia late Saturday direct from his summit in 
neighboring Slovenia with President Bush. Although he and Bush discussed the 
region's problems broadly, Putin said ``we did not touch in detail on any 
specific issues.'' 

That was not the case in Belgrade, where Putin and Yugoslavia's new 
pro-democracy leader, President Vojislav Kostunica, criticized NATO and the 
U.N. administrators who have run Kosovo since NATO's 1999 bombing campaign 
drove Yugoslav authorities out. 

``Wrong moves'' by the international community have ``destabilized the entire 
region,'' Kostunica said. 

Instead of then flying back to Moscow as announced, Putin went to Kosovo, 
where he handed out medals to Russian peacekeepers and met with Danish Lt. 
Gen. Thorstein Skiaker, the commander of the NATO-led force, and U.N. 
officials. 

His flight was announced at the last minute because of security concerns in 
the province, where ethnic Albanians view Russia as pro-Serb because of 
historic ties between the two Slav nations. 

A source who was at the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity, 
described Putin as ``very critical'' of the 45,000-strong peacekeeping 
force's performance. 

Russia has been pushing for NATO to do more to disarm ethnic Albanian 
extremists who have been attacking the remaining Serbs in Kosovo and 
contributing to clashes with government troops in neighboring Macedonia. 

``We discussed with him in quite frank terms ... should we be confident in 
going forward because some things are going wrong, or should we be confident 
in going forward because some things are going right,'' said Jeremy 
Greenstock, British ambassador to the United Nations. 

Since taking office, Putin has sought to strengthen Russia's role especially 
in areas of former influence like the Balkans, where the West holds 
increasing sway through the presence of NATO troops. 

But the assertiveness sometimes bumps against a desire not to be left out. 

While voicing deep apprehension at his summit with Bush over NATO expanding 
toward Russia's borders, Putin also recently revived Russian participation in 
its Partnership for Peace program. 

Although Russia has cultural, religious and historic ties to Yugoslavia's 
Serbian and Montenegrin population, it also was critical of former President 
Slobodan Milosevic's ``ethnic cleansing'' campaign against ethnic Albanians 
in Kosovo. 

Russia strongly opposed the 1999 NATO bombing campaign yet played a large 
diplomatic role in convincing Milosevic to accept the terms of the U.N. 
resolution ending it. 

Once the bombs stopped in June 1999, the Russians then flew into Kosovo 
before any NATO troops and quickly took control of the airport near Pristina, 
to the dismay of NATO commanders. 

After days of negotiations, Russian and U.S. representatives reached a 
compromise that allowed them to keep control of the airport and some 
flexibility in defining their mission - but not their own sector to patrol, 
as they'd wanted. 

Putin was greeted Sunday at the airport, where the Russian troops are still 
based, by a white-gloved Russian military honor guard and the Russian 
national anthem. 

Accompanied by his foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, and military chief of 
staff, Gen. Anatoly Kvashnin, Putin shook hands with several Russian soldiers 
before getting into a motorcade taking them from the tarmac to the Russian 
command center. 

Earlier in Belgrade, Putin and Kostunica blamed ethnic Albanian 
``terrorists'' for the instability in Macedonia and Kosovo. 

``The stability of the region is seriously endangered by national and 
religious intolerance and extremism, and the main source of the problem is in 
Kosovo,'' Putin said, referring to ethnic Albanian extremists. 

``We must do all to disarm the terrorists,'' Putin said. 

Putin and Kostunica also discussed calling for a regional conference to 
solidify borders and the territorial integrity of the countries in the area 
as well as minority rights. 

``We consider it extremely dangerous and destructive to discuss any 
possibility of changing or redrawing the borders,'' Putin said in Pristina. 
``If we don't stop this process we will never, ever achieve stability in the 
region.'' 

The guarantor of the agreement would be the U.N. Security Council, sources 
close to the Russian delegation said.