BELGRADE, 25 June 2000 C O N T E N T S : YUGOSLAVIA - RUSSIA - UN COUNCIL
SESSION -RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: ISOLATION OF YUGOSLAVIA TOTAL NONSENSE
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA -KOSOVO SERBS PROTEST OVER KIDNAPPING
KOSOVO AND METOHIJA - INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS -GLIGOROV: AN INDEPENDENT
KOSOVO - A THREAT TO THE REGION * * *
YUGOSLAVIA - RUSSIA - UN COUNCIL SESSION RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY:
ISOLATION OF YUGOSLAVIA TOTAL NONSENSE MOSCOW, June 25 (Tanjug) - The
Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday sharply criticized the stand of
western countries during a United Nations Security Council session on the
Balkans and said they had assumed a "conspicuously destructive position"
and completely senseless stand. Blocking Yugoslavia's participation in this
session runs counter to the letter and spirit of the U.N. Charter, its
objectives and principles, the ministry statement said. Speaking about the
session at which the majority council members demonstrated disagreement
with the U.S. policy and urged an end to the artificial isolation of
Yugoslavia, the ministry said that according to Article 31 of the Charter,
Yugoslavia has the right to take part in such debates equally with other
U.N. member-states which have made such requests. The ministry statement
said that under Article 32 of the Charter, even a state which is not a U.N.
member can take part in the discussion related to a dispute under
consideration by the Security Council if it is an interested party. "It is
total nonsense to discuss Balkan problems without Yugoslavia", the ministry
said. "The policy aimed at putting Belgrade in international isolation
derails not only the political settlement in the Balkans but also the U.N.
as a universal international organization. This is a dangerous precedent
when a state, declared disagreeable for political reasons, is barred from
participation in the work of the U.N.", the statement said. "Having stated
that a U.N. Security Council session on the Balkans without the FRY becomes
politically senseless, the Russian representative left the session", the
ministry statement said.
SERBIAN PROVINCE OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA KOSOVO SERBS PROTEST OVER
KIDNAPPING KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, June 25 (Tanjug) - Armed members of the
ethnic Albanian terrorist organization, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA),
on Sunday attempted to kidnap a seventeen-year-old Serb boy from Susice
village, Serbia's Kosovo and Metohja province, from where a Serb shepherd,
Bozidar Markovic, 60, was abducted on Friday. The boy managed to escape
from his captors, the Committee for Protection and Human Rights of the
southern municipality of Strpce confirmed to Tanjug. One terrorist in black
uniform and three others in green camouflage uniforms with insignia of the
terrorist KLA had tried to abduct the boy, but he managed to escape when
they entered into a deep wood, and get back to Susice village which is in
this municipality, the Committee said. Meanwhile, amateur radio operators
said the boy, whom they identified as Jovica Milic, had been kicked in the
head with a boot, and had reached the KFOR base in Susice under
psychological stress. Members of the KFOR Polish battalion are keeping the
boy in the base. A large protest rally had been set for 10 a.m. in Susice
in connection with Markovic's abduction, but when the villagers heard about
the attempt to kidnap Milic, they rallied outside the KFOR Polish base.
Several thousand citizens and displaced persons are still demonstrating
outside the KFOR base, refusing to let the boy be taken to the KFOR U.S.
base Bondsteel. The boy has meanwhile been examined by a military doctor,
who established that he was in psychological shock.
KOSOVO AND METOHIJA - INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS GLIGOROV: AN INDEPENDENT
KOSOVO - A THREAT TO THE REGION OHRID, June 25 (Tanjug) - Former Macedonian
president Kiro Gligorov said at a meeting on southeastern Europe in Ohrid
on Saturday that an independent Kosovo and Metohija would present a great
threat to the region. He said there should be no dilemma whether the
Serbian province should be given independence or wide autonomy within
Yugoslavia, since only the latter solution was acceptable. The existence of
two Albanian states in the Balkans would be an extreme danger, Gligorov
said. Current Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski opened the Ohrid
meeting. He said in his speech that Balkan states were threatened by the
"indifferent policy of Europe regarding the crisis in the region." He was
also unequivocal in his stand that the existing borders in the Balkans
should not be changed.
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