Global Policy Forum

By Carlotta Gall

Russia and Yugoslavia said today that Kosovo was the main cause of instability in the Balkans and urged world leaders to ensure that Albanian "terrorists" in Kosovo and the region were completely disarmed. President Vladimir V. Putin, the first Russian president to visit Yugoslavia in over a decade, later warned that Macedonia could be a repeat of Kosovo, if Western pressure pushed the Macedonian leadership to give in to the demands of the rebels.

"Stability in the region is seriously threatened, above all from national religious extremism and intolerance, the main source of which today is in Kosovo," Mr. Putin told reporters after his talks with President Vojislav Kostunica of Yugoslavia.

Mr. Putin was making a short working visit to Belgrade to show support for the eight-month-old government of President Kostunica, as it pulls the country out of 10 years of isolation under the former leader, Slobodan Milosevic.

On his way home after meeting with President Bush in Slovenia on Saturday, Mr. Putin touched down briefly in Kosovo today to visit Russian peacekeeping troops at their base at Pristina airport and meet United Nations officials.

Despite their common Slav and Orthodox heritage, relations between the former Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin and Mr. Milosevic were not warm, and no Russian president has visited Yugoslavia since Mikhail S. Gorbachev did in 1988.

Mr. Putin said he agreed with Mr. Kostunica that the international community should do more to fulfill the United Nations resolution that regulates Kosovo and has made it a United Nations protectorate since NATO's war with Yugoslavia in 1999. "We must do everything for the disarmament of the terrorists," he said, speaking of his concern for attacks against the dwindling Serbian community in Kosovo. "I think that the international community's attitude is sobering somewhat in that regard, particularly with tragic and sad events in Macedonia," he said.

Some 3,000 Russian troops are serving in Kosovo as part of the 38,000-member peacekeeping force led by NATO in Kosovo.

Mr. Kostunica repeated his now familiar criticism of the United Nations mission in Kosovo. "The crisis in Kosovo, and many wrong moves by the international community in Kosovo have caused instability in the entire region — in southern Serbia, Macedonia and lately even in northern Greece, where ethnic Albanian terrorists have also made their presence felt," he said. He was referring to Yugoslav news media reports of activity by ethnic Albanians in northern Greece, which have not been independently confirmed.

Mr. Kostunica said he and Mr. Putin had also discussed holding a conference on the Balkans that would "put an end to the trend of redrawing borders in the Balkans and wars in the region."

Mr. Putin flew on to Pristina on Sunday afternoon, to view Russian peacekeeping troops serving in both Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to meet with the NATO commander of peacekeeping troops. His trip was kept unannounced for security reasons. Russia is seen as an ally of Serbia by most Albanians, and Russian troops have come under attack in Kosovo.

"Developments in Macedonia are unfolding according to an extremely difficult scenario," he said in an address to Russian troops. "The country's leadership is under strong pressure to satisfy the demands of extremists to the maximum. The Kosovo option is in fact being repeated. We know what it leads to."

He said that the borders should be tightly sealed to prevent movement of men and weapons and that the rebels' access to international funds should be blocked.

Macedonian leaders have failed to forge an agreement on political reforms to answer the grievances of the Albanian minority after three days of closed negotiations. Talks were set to resume Monday while a shaky cease-fire was still in force.

Mr. Putin also criticized the United Nations' new framework for self- rule in Kosovo, drawn up by Hans Haekkerup, the head of the United Nations mission in Kosovo. The framework was too like a constitution and did not emphasize strongly enough that Kosovo remained a sovereign and territorial part of Yugoslavia, he said.

"Too many concessions have been made to radicals," he said. "The document has a number of significant drawbacks to which the Russian side has drawn attention."