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ORAHOVAC, Yugoslavia (AP) Kosovo's rebel leader promised demonstrators here Wednesday that Russian peacekeepers would not be deployed inside their town, while the United Nations decided to station international police here until the standoff over the Russians is resolved.
Hashim Thaci, head of the Kosovo Liberation Army, met with local leaders in Orahovac and addressed a crowd of local ethnic Albanians, who erected barricades over a week ago to prevent Russian soldiers from taking up positions in the town.
The ethnic Albanians claim Russian mercenaries committed atrocities in Orahovac, 30 miles south of Kosovo's capital Pristina, during the 18-month Serb crackdown in the province.
''In the town of Orahovac you won't have Russian soldiers, but we can't guarantee that for the whole municipality and the whole thing is not definite yet,'' Thaci told the local leaders.
So far, no official decisions have been made on whether the Russians will in fact replace Dutch peacekeepers in the region, as previously planned. The Russians are participating in the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, or KFOR, that entered the province following an allied bombing campaign.
Thaci was to leave later Wednesday for a seven-day tour of Europe to discuss the situation in Orahovac with leaders there. Also on the agenda is the Sept. 19 demilitarization of the Kosovo Liberation Army, as agreed to by Thaci and NATO.
Members of Orahovac's protest council thanked Thaci for showing support for their cause, but said they would not lift the barricade until their demands were met.
Earlier in the day, Bernard Kouchner, the top U.N. official in Kosovo, announced international police officers would be sent to Orahovac until the standoff is resolved.
The decision was announced following a meeting of a multiethnic council made up of Serbs, Albanians and U.N. officials, which Serb representatives did not attend. Kouchner had forgotten to send security guards to bring them to the meeting.
''Unfortunately the Serbs did not come because we did not send them an escort,'' Kouchner told reporters after the meeting. ''After we sent them an escort, it was too late. This is my mistake.''
In Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused U.S. authorities of trying to cover up an alleged massacre of Serbs discovered last month, but announced only last week.
NATO officials in Kosovo have said the ethnicity of more than 20 bodies found in the US-controlled sector has yet to be determined, although local Serb families claim at least three of the victims are Serbs.