Russian U$/NATO agreement - Russia Gets its Own Stake


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit


INDEPENDENT (London) June 18

Russia to get its own stake in Kosovo
By Phil Reeves in Moscow and Stephen Castle in Brussels

AFTER three days of talks, forced into being by Russia's land-grab at
Pristina airport, the United States and Moscow last night agreed a deal on
the issue of post-war peace-keeping.

An agreement worked out by both defence ministers - William Cohen and Igor
Sergeyev - in 30 hours of haggling gave Russian troops a stake in three of
the five zones administered by Nato in Kosovo. Reports said the number of
Russians was put at 3,000 - less than one-third of the number Moscow had
said it was prepared to send.

"It preserves the unity of command . and it gives Russia a unique role by
providing for operations of Russian forces" within sectors controlled by
Nato members, Mr Cohen said at a news conference in Helsinki last night.

Mr Cohen and his Russian counterpart sat side by side, each signing one
copy of the document before rising and briskly shaking hands.

Under the agreement, Russian troops will serve under Russian command and
control but Russians will work with Nato commanders in the sectors
controlled by the US, France and Germany within Kosovo, Mr Cohen said.
Italy and Britain also control portions of the Serbian province. Pristina
airport will be opened to all nations, Mr Cohen said.

"This agreement protects Nato's fundamental interest," including
preserving a Nato chain of command, he added.

The agreement must still be formally accepted by Nato leaders. "We are
confident of its approval," Mr Cohen said.

In Cologne, Germany, President Bill Clinton praised the accord. "This has
been a good day. We are achieving our objectives," he said.

Last night, the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, warned that the Yugoslavian
President, Slobodan Milosevic, was "a serial nationalist" whose next phase
of aggression may be Montenegro.

One issue above all that has placed fresh strains on Russia's relations
with the West at a particularly critical time was still apparently
unresolved: President Boris Yeltsin's demand that Russia must have a
sector of its own.

Under then deal, Moscow has been offered a continuing role in
administering Pristina airport, seized early last Saturday by 200 Russian
paratroops. Nato is expected to control air operations at the base, while
the Russians would run ground operations, including maintenance and
protocol.

Complex command and control arrangements were also taking shape, seemingly
based on the model tried in Bosnia, where Russia has 1,500 peace-keepers.

The formula - under which the alliance keeps de facto control - is a
fudge, to allow the Russians to claim they are on an equal footing and not
under direct Nato command. In addition, there will be Russian liaison
missions with K-For's command in Kosovo and the Supreme Headquarters
Allied Powers Europe in Belgium.

Nato has consistently argued against a Russian sector, saying it would
become a magnet for Serbs, producing partition and a potential flashpoint
with the Kosovo Liberation Army. Even if Mr Yeltsin concedes defeat - as
seems likely in the end - that will not be a total defeat. In the past
week he has served the international community notice, in typically
flamboyant fashion, of Moscow's sense of grievance over Kosovo. Russia
believes it played a prominent - perhaps even indispensable - part in
getting Slobodan Milosevic to sign up to a peace deal, only to be
ungratefully elbowed aside by the alliance.

The occupation of Pristina airport restored Moscow to centre-stage, even
though it quickly became clear that Moscow's soldiers were ill-prepared
for the stunt - and had to beg water from British troops.

Had the Russians not moved into Kosovo, beating Nato troops to Pristina,
it is a sure bet that Moscow would not have been accorded the global
attention it has received over the past few days.
 
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nyteeu-06.20.99-12:38:25-9428