XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT FLASH XXXXX 04/08/99 12:59:22 ET XXXXX NATO GROUND TROOPS MAY FACE CHEMICAL WARFARE IN KOSOVO; SERBS OPERATING 4 PLANTS, SAYS FEDERATION Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic may be planning to use or threatening to use, as a last resort, chemical weapons in Kosovo or in greater Serbia, especially if NATO ground troops enter the conflict, according to information made available in Washington on Thursday afternoon. The FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS has confirmed that there are four known Chemical Warfare facilities operating in the former Yugoslavia, specifically in Serbia. The four known facilities currently involved in the research, production, and storage of chemical warfare agents in the Serbia are: Prva Iskra in Baric, Serbia; Miloje Blagojevic in Lucani, near Casak, Serbia; Milojie Zakic and Merima in Krusevic, Serbia; and the Military Technical Institute in Potoci near Mostar. The chemical weapons concern has gone unreported in the press. Chemical Warfare may be the only "trump card" Milosevic has to even the odds in an asymmetrical ground war with NATO. The development of chemical agents and weapons in the former Yugoslavia began in the late 1960s. According to a public document, "Yugoslav Army Involvement With Chemical Weapons," prepared by the Yugoslav Federal President's office in September 1991, thousand of rockets for the 262mm multiple rocket launcher system, were produced with chemical weapons warheads filled with phosgene and BZ. Manufacturing was slowed after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, according to information made public on Thursday, but stockpiles which are in control of Milosevic have remained viable and have not been destroyed. The U.S. State Department refused immediate comment. The United States has known about chemical weapons production capability in the Balkans since 1993, but has been reluctant to release the information to the public, charges the group HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH. Developing... Backgrounder: http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0408-114.htm http://www.fas.org/news/serbia/bmd970328j.htm ---------------------------------------------------- Filed by Matt Drudge Reports are moved when circumstances warrant http://www.drudgereport.com for steaks and breaks (c)DRUDGE REPORT 1999 Not for reproduction without permission of the author
