[ALBSA-Info] Russia's Putin calls for quick Macedonia measures

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Russia's Putin calls for quick Macedonia measures

MOSCOW, March 5 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Monday 
for swift action in Macedonia to prevent the spread of clashes between the 
former Yugoslav republic's army and armed ethnic Albanians. 

Putin, addressing senior ministers, said he and Macedonian President Boris 
Trajkovski had discussed "negative processes" in the region, including 
clashes at the weekend in a border village in which three Macedonian soldiers 
were killed. 

Putin expressed concern that the departure of Yugoslav troops from 
neighbouring Kosovo when U.N. KFOR peacekeepers had been deployed there had 
created a "power vacuum." 

He drew parallels with the withdrawal of Russian troops from separatist 
Chechnya in 1996, after which armed separatists invaded the neighbouring 
Russian region of Dagestan. 

"Things are happening there that we have long warned about. With its current 
status, KFOR cannot counter extremism, as was the case after 1996 in 
Chechnya," Putin said in comments reported by Russian media. 

"The potential for extremism spilling beyond Kosovo is building. The 
international community must quickly take active measures or the situation 
could slip out of control." 

Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, in comments earlier reported by Interfax news 
agency, said Russia would back any Macedonian call to debate the issue at the 
U.N. Security Council. 

Russia backed Belgrade against NATO's 11-week bombing of Yugoslav targets in 
1999 in response to a crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Moscow later 
contributed forces to KFOR and complained of insufficient measures to protect 
Kosovo's minority ethnic Serbs against armed Albanian groups. 

Macedonian Foreign Minister Sergan Kerim said on Sunday that his country's 
forces would take coordinated action with KFOR forces in Kosovo to restore 
order to the village of Tanusevci, occupied by Albanian gunmen. But he said 
he saw no reason to launch a military operation against the village. 

Macedonia's population is about two-thirds Slav and one-third ethnic 
Albanian.