Russians enter Kosovo
The arrival of Russian forces took Nato by surprise
A convoy of Russian soldiers has arrived in the Kosovan
capital, Pristina, in the early hours of Saturday, to a
cheering crowd.
There was shouting and fireworks as
thousands of people crowded the
main street of the city to greet the
soldiers, who arrived aboard trucks
and troop transports.
They arrived as British and French
Nato troops waited in Macedonia on
Kosovo's southern border to enter as
part of an international peacekeeping
force authorised by the United Nations.
Earlier, Nato said it had received assurances from
Moscow that it would not attempt to deploy troops in the
Serbian province before western forces.
British paratroopers were put on stand-by to fly to
Pristina, on Friday, to head off a possible Russian
attempt to take control of the airport there.
They were later stood down during a day of confusion
about the column of Russian troops and military vehicles
heading through Yugoslavia for the Kosovo border. There
were also reports that Russia was preparing to fly in
paratroopers.
The first troops of the international
intervention force - K-For - are to
cross the border from the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia at
0500 local time (0300 GMT).
Meanwhile Serbian forces have been
continuing to withdraw in large numbers, along with
many Serb civilians who are taking all their belongings
with them.
Moscow's threat
The deployment of the small Russian force came shortly
after Moscow threatened to bypass Nato and establish
its own peacekeeping sector in Kosovo in conjunction
with Belgrade.
The Russian vehicles were marked with K-For, the
insignia of the international intervention force in Kosovo.
US Vice President Al Gore said Washington had
received assurances that the Russians would not enter
Kosovo.
BBC Defence Correspondent Mark
Laity says Russia is playing a
high-stakes game of brinkmanship in
Yugoslavia, after the US refusal in
Moscow to accept Russian
modification to the peace plan.
(Click here to see an animated map showing
timetable of Serb withdrawal)
US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott had left
Moscow after inconclusive talks on the future of the
Russian presence in Kosovo when the reports came
through about the convoy.
He abruptly turned his plane around
and went back into talks with Russian
officials which were expected to go
into the early hours of Saturday.
Correspondents say Mr Talbott had
"played hard ball" with the Russians,
refusing any modification to the UN-backed formula for
peacekeeping in Kosovo.
The Americans insist on a Nato-led structure which
would place all peacekeeping forces in Kosovo under
their command. Russia is demanding independent
control of their soldiers in a separate sector.
Delay in Macedonia
The first units of the Nato contingent
had been expected to cross into
Kosovo from Macedonia at about 4am
local time on Friday, but some
troop-contributing countries were
reported to have requested more time
to assemble their forces.
Nato denies the deployment has been delayed, saying
everything is going smoothly.
However a BBC correspondent at Nato headquarters in
Brussels says it is understood that there was a delay -
caused by Greece's refusal to allow US forces on their
way to Macedonia to come ashore in Greece until the
last moment.
Fighting continues
The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has accused Serb
forces of burning houses as they withdraw from Kosovo.
The rebels said the Serbs had set fire
to homes in the southern town of
Kacanik and a BBC correspondent in
the hills overlooking the town said he
could see plumes of smoke rising from
it.
Our correspondent also reported a number of very loud
explosions from the valley, which appeared to be mines
going off, and the sound of automatic fire as trucks
carrying Serbian police drove away.
He said this could have been an exchange of fire with
guerrilla forces or the Serbs shooting as they left.
news.bbc.co.uk
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