WAR'S OVER? FORGET IT

WAR'S OVER. FORGET IT?
Versty - September 9, 2003

Written by: Boris Vinogradov

PRESIDENT PUTIN BRINGS UP THE MATTER OF HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE IN KOSOVO.

Strange though it may seem, Vladimir Putin's latest statement on the Kosovo issue went mostly unnoticed by the media, Russian and foreign alike. The statement was made the other day at the meeting with President of Bulgaria Georgy Pyrvanov. The matter concerned the lamentable lot of the locals, Serbs in the area occupied by NATO troops since 1999, the area Russian peacekeepers left a couple of months ago. Essentially, the statement may be viewed as the Kremlin's first resolute demarche in the Balkans. Not in the Balkans alone, as a matter of fact. It is as though Moscow has found its voice. Moscow has not used this tone since Yeltsin when he claimed he would not let NATO into Kosovo.

Making a speech in Sochi, the president of Russia pointed out the facts we always, even without thinking, list as crying injustice. Like back in 1998, when Albanians were leaving Kosovo - first 25,000, then 30,000, 40,000 - and everybody was talking of a humanitarian catastrophe. This time, 250,000 Serbs left Kosovo, but the international community is playing mum's the word. Here is a question: what is NATO doing over there, and what did our paratroops do there? What did they accomplish save for the unprecedented in the history of peacekeeping operations nocturnal forced march from Bosnia to Pristina?

For starters, we should try to understand who Putin meant emphasizing this crying discrepancy of figures and facts, this undeniable use of dual standards in international affairs. Who did Putin address these emotional phrases to? If he addressed them to president of the country scheduled to chair the OSCE as of January 2004, it is one thing. Pyrvanov should know what is happening across the borders of his own country, what he should pay special attention to. If that is what Putin meant, then it is a friendly message, nothing more. But if Putin meant it as a message to the West that declared a war on Yugoslavia and invaded Kosovo, it is a different matter altogether.

Why does the West pretend that nothing is happening? Nobody in the West is saying so much as a single word about the humanitarian catastrophe. Remember European capitals five years ago? Parliaments seethed, demanding Slobodan Milosevic to be punished. All countries, even the ones that had advocated a peaceful solution to the problem, volunteered to participate in the NATO operation. Russia was left alone, without a single ally to support its stand on the matter.

What happened afterwards merely deteriorated the situation. Russia sent its troops to Kosovo without an invitation and failed to alter the correlation of forces. On the other hand, it shouldered responsibility for what was happening in the region. Serbs never got the protection they needed either from NATO or from Russian peacekeepers. Ethnic purges continue. The impression is that Europe with its permanent bodies like the OSCE and European Parliament is used to this state of affairs. Moreover, it is not interested in Russia's opinion out of habit. As a matter of fact, Hari Halkerey, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General, did come to Moscow not so long ago for consultations with the Foreign Ministry. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is leaving for Serbia and Montenegro soon where he intends to bring up the matter. It seems that Russia is determined to regain the positions it once had and is taking steps to that end. It would have been great, had it been true. But isn't it a bit too late? With all our sympathies with Bulgarians and eagerness for restoration of mutual friendship, this country's determination to join NATO and the European Union remains firm. Pyrvanov reiterated it in Sochi.

To tell the truth, our president already had a chance to say all of that more than once, both in the inner circle, and in public. Say, at the St. Petersburg jubilee or at the G8 summit in Avian. Unfortunately, in both episodes the situation in Kosovo was viewed as "an example of fruitful cooperation" between Russia and NATO. Judging by the final documents, both sides take pride in their successes in this sphere. Nobody mentioned the scale of the Serbs' mass exodus. Putin went against the tradition all of a sudden. Logically, we should try to understand why it all happened the way it happened. And whose fault it is. Just to know it. Just to be prepared. So far, however, there have been no comments.

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