Russia Spans Kosovo Gap But Rift At
Home
MOSCOW, Jun 9, 1999 -- (Reuters) While Russia
bridged a crucial gap with Western powers in the
Kosovo peace process on Tuesday, the talk at
home was of a domestic political rift.
Intrigues and splits are nothing new in Russian
politics and may seem academic now Western and
Russian foreign ministers have agreed a draft U.N.
resolution to end the conflict.
But when the Russian military -- still the world's
second nuclear power even if demoralized and
underfunded -- contradicts its political masters,
people sit up and take notice.
"We, the military, deep in our hearts are not happy,"
said Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov when he returned
last Thursday from Belgrade with President Boris
Yeltsin's envoy, Viktor Chernomyrdin, after
securing Yugoslav agreement to an international
peace deal.
"Everything depends on the good will of NATO,"
the outspoken officer said as Chernomyrdin stood
beside him, head bowed.
The Balkans envoy, a bulky ex-premier who can
take knocks, can have expected few garlands from an opposition dominated
by Communists and nationalists even more pro-Serb than the Kremlin.
However, an unprecedented verbal, and public, swipe from Ivashov must
have hurt, even if he said subsequently it did not.
"It was an unprecedented event," said NTV commercial television. "When
the military starts interfering in politics, it means the authorities are extremely
weak."
Russian and Western defense analysts say there is no doubt Ivashov had
high-level backing from the Foreign Ministry, including from Foreign Minister
Igor Ivanov, as well as the Defense Ministry for his remarks.
"There was a degree of confidence that indicated some form of cover," said
one Western defense specialist.
The analysts are still puzzling, in print and in conversations, over the military's
broader motives.
Some point to frustrated jealousy because Chernomyrdin succeeded where
the Foreign Ministry failed. Others note Yeltsin has not criticized
Chernomyrdin so far, implying he still backs his envoy and the stance he
took in the run-up to Belgrade.
Several said the military was keen to extract the best possible deal and
status for its contingent in any U.N. Kosovo peacekeeping force. Russian
peacekeepers, according to the draft resolution hammered out in Germany
on Tuesday, will not be under NATO command.
Russian media noted acidly it was Ivashov who accompanied Ivanov to
Germany, not Chernomyrdin.
"This was not just about Yugoslavia," said a Russian Balkans analyst. "This
was about an ingrained aversion among the general staff to cooperating with
NATO."
Russia put relatively half-hearted cooperative ventures with the alliance on
indefinite hold after NATO started bombing Yugoslavia 11 weeks ago.
Closer to home, Russian military commanders and officials in the defense
industry have been keen to make a business virtue out of their own
post-Cold War weakness.
"The war in Yugoslavia gave them a new reason to cry from the rooftops
that Russia is practically defenseless in the face of possible aggression,"
wrote defense analyst Alexander Golts in the weekly magazine Itogi.
He noted the new government of Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, a former
interior minister, had heard the call. He appointed a special first deputy
premier for the sector, Ilya Klebanov, and vowed to boost spending on
weapons and troops.
"A step towards the military," trumpeted the Defense Ministry daily
newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, pointing to Stepashin's stated desire to shake
up the entire military-industrial complex, as the defense sector is called.
One Russian defense specialist said there could be a far more prosaic reason
for the hard-ball approach from Russia's military. Under U.N. command,
Russia's 10,000 men stand to be paid well above the average domestic
wage from United Nations funds in hard currency.
"Stepashin can make all the promises he likes," he said. "There is simply no
cash at home." ((c) 1999 Reuters)
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