 |  |  |
| Return to: Left History: a digital archive | Return to: Say no to imperialist wars! | Return to: NATO-Yugoslav War Internet Resources |
| | |
| Return to: Left History: a digital archive | Return to: Say no to imperialist wars! | Return to: NATO-Yugoslav War Internet Resources |
MOSCOW, August 20 (Itar-Tass) - Members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA, were to surrender 60 per cent of their arms by now, but far more less has been given up, Russian ambassador at large Boris Mayorsky said at a press conference on Friday.
He said the KLA's arms that should have been laid down under accords end up in the hands of forces that do not want stabilisation in Kosovo.
Russia is not very happy about the progress of implemenation of the UN Security Council's Resolution 1244.
Despite the international peacekeeping presence in Kosovo, blood is shed in the province, blazes are raging and new refugee flows are seen, Mayorsky said.
He said 200 people were killed and 400 injured in Kosovo, and 40,000 houses and apartments were burned down over the recent months.
Mayorsky said "all states, starting from those directly participating the the peacemaking in Kosovo, should in deed confirm and demonstrate their commitment to basic principles of peaceful settlement as they were worked out by the international community and translated by the UN Security Council into the language for their mandatory solution".
The issue of rapid and full demilitarisation of Kosovo's armed groups should be handled on a priority basis, he said.
Mayorsky said "all of structures stipulated by the resolution of the UN Security Council should start working to full capacity to move the province toward a genuine self-rule and a substantial autonomy with observance of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia".
"As concerns Russia, our policy is clear, honest and unchanging. We did and we will do all we can for adequate and strict fulfillment of all accords and decisions that lead to peace and stability at any point of the Balkan region," Mayorsky said.
He went on to say that Russia backs Yugoslavia's government.
"We treat the acting government with full respect, normal contacts are maintained with it. And there are no reasons for the contacts to be broken only because other countries see the relations with Belgrade differently," he said.
As for the 100,000-strong protest meeting that was held in Belgrade on Thursday demanding Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's stepping down, Mayorsky said the protest cannot affect Russia' attitude toward Yugoslavia.
The state policy cannot be based on protests, he said.
"Complicated processes are happening in Yugoslavia now and we see them as one of namifestations of the fact that a normal democratic development is going on in the country. It is up to the Yugoslav people to master its own fate," Mayorsky said.
"If a variant of a solution is found as a result of these protests, with which it is clear that the people's will is turning against the acting government of the FRY (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) and there are lawful ways of such a decision, we will meet this turn of events with a complete understanding," he said.