(24 May 1999) Russian/Eng/Nat
Russia's Balkans envoy, Viktor Chernomyrdin, is reporting a breakthrough in talks with Western officials regarding the Kosovo conflict.
Chernomyrdin says he's persuaded NATO countries to allow Yugoslavia to leave some troops in Kosovo as part of a potential peace agreement.
Former Russian premier Chernomyrdin, meeting India's foreign minister Jaswant Singh in Moscow, said he planned another mission to the Yugoslav capital Belgrade on Thursday.
Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russia's Balkan envoy, said on Monday that the search for a diplomatic solution in Kosovo would continue despite increasingly intense NATO airstrikes over the Balkans.
Chernomyrdin said that NATO could be ready to allow some Yugoslav troops to stay in Kosovo if hostilities were to cease.
But he said that the continued bombings were making the search for a diplomatic solution increasingly frustrating.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"It's difficult to conduct negotiations when mass bombing is taking place, rocket strikes are being carried out. You have to take into account everything is very tense. It can't carry on like this in all probability. Therefore decisions have to be made."
SUPER CAPTION: Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian Special Envoy to the Balkans
According to Chernomyrdin, who has already held talks with Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic three times since the start of NATO's air campaign, three-way international negotiations on Yugoslavia will continue in Moscow on Wednesday.
In the face of U-S dominance in international affairs, Moscow has striven to coordinate its opposition to the western alliance's operation with both India and China.
India's Foreign Minster Jaswant Singh said that the best chance for peace in the troubled region was U-N involvement.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The earlier hostilities cease in Yugoslavia, the earlier the aerial bombardment ceases, the quicker the chances of restoration of normalcy in Yugoslavia under the UN aegis."
SUPER CAPTION: Jaswant Singh, Indian Foreign Minister
It is expected Chernomyrdin will again meet with U-S deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Finnish president Marrti Ahtisaari, the designated mediator of the European Union.
But he said that Russia's diplomatic efforts were on a knife edge.
SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"It's very hard to have negotiations when the number of rocket and bomb attacks is on the increase. The negotiation process could all end at any time and that would mean catastrophe."
SUPER CAPTION: Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian Special Envoy to the Balkans
Singh is also due to hold talks with newly appointed Russian Premier Sergei Stepashin during his visit.
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