http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080422/105620500.html
RUSSIAN INFORMATION AGENCY NOVOSTI Russian humanitarian aid arrives in Kosovo 22/04/2008 16:20 BELGRADE, April 22 (RIA Novosti) - The first trucks carrying Russian humanitarian aid to Serbs in Kosovo have been delivered to the north of the province by the Red Cross, local officials said on Tuesday. "There were no problems in crossing the administrative border with Kosovo. The cargo has arrived at its destination," said Dragica Kljajic, a coordinator of the Red Cross social welfare department in Serbia. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to provide humanitarian aid to Serb areas in Kosovo last month after a request from Serbia's government citing a deteriorating humanitarian situation there. The supplies, worth around 40 million rubles ($1.7 million), were flown to Belgrade in four deliveries earlier this month. The first planeloads of aid to the Serb minority in the province, that declared independence from Serbia in February, were delivered to Belgrade April 2-10. A total of 150 metric tons of food, including canned meat and fish, baby food, rice, and sugar, along with substantial amounts of medical equipment, medicines, disinfectants and other healthcare products have been delivered to the Serbian capital for shipment to Kosovo. By the end of this week, the trucks will deliver a total of 65 metric tons of aid, mostly canned meat and fish, to the five main municipalities of Kosovo. Another 65 metric tons of food including rice and sugar will be delivered after April 27. The Red Cross will distribute the aid to a total of 6,500 Serbian families from May 5. Each family will be given ten cans of fish and 14 cans of meat, five kilograms of rice and two kilograms of sugar. The second phase of humanitarian assistance to Kosovo Serbs, consisting of medicine and equipment, will be launched by Russia in a week. Kosovo, with a 90% ethnic-Albanian majority, has been formally recognized as a sovereign state by 37 countries including the United States and most European Union members since it proclaimed its independence from Serbia on February 17. Russia and China continue to back Belgrade's position that Kosovo will always remain a part of Serbia.
