Russian military plotted to seize Kosovo airport

[Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>]

Russian military plotted to seize Kosovo airport
                              

                               By Bill Gertz
                               THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Russia's military had a detailed plan to seize Kosovo's main airport days before 200 Russians drove there from Bosnia ahead of the NATO peacekeeping operation, according to Pentagon intelligence officials. "There was no confusion at all about this," said one official familiar with a recent report based on intercepted Russian communications. "The operational orders were worked out well in advance." The intelligence reports, according to officials familiar with them, further undermine both U.S. government and Moscow claims that the deployment ahead of NATO peacekeepers was the result of miscommunications among Russian civilian and military leaders. It raises new questions about whether the military is totally under the control of Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his administration. Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, the new Army chief of staff, said the pre-emptive deployment of the Russians appears to have been a "political decision" but that Moscow's forces should not be viewed as unre!
!
liable within the NATO peacekeeping operation. "My experience is the Russians never did anything without proper instructions," Gen. Shinseki told -- Continued from Front Page -- reporters at the Pentagon a day after assuming duties as the chief of staff. "And in this case, I would guess that these were probably through the political chain of command." Asked if the move calls into question the reliability of Russian forces in following NATO orders, the four-star general said: "I don't think so. My experience again in Bosnia was that when given the proper directions, they complied with them." The June 11 dash by the Russians from their peacekeeping sector in northern Bosnia-Herzegovina, through Serbia and into Kosovo, was closely monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies. The intelligence prompted high-level U.S. government appeals from senior Clinton administration officials, including Vice President Al Gore and Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, for the Russians to wait u!
!
ntil after the advance units of the NATO peacekeeping forces could first go in. The appeals were made to Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. The Russian government response came in the form of a public statement by Mr. Ivanov that, first, the troops would not advance from Serbia into Kosovo province. He then said after they had taken up positions at the Pristina airport that the deployment was "a mistake" and "unfortunate" and that the troops would be pulled back. Despite the promise, the Russians traveling in armored vehicle columns raced into Kosovo and seized the airport that was to have been the headquarters of British Lt. Gen. Michael Jackson. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen told reporters the Russian deployment was the result of "confusion" among the Russians. However, the Defense Intelligence Agency reported to top Pentagon leaders last week that the Foreign Ministry was aware of the advance plans for the deployment of Russians to Kosovo, contrary to Mr. Ivanov's s!
!
tatement. The only element left to the military was the timing of the deployment, which appeared to have been ordered June 10, the day before the troops took over the airport, the officials said. "This was not Russian confusion," said a Pentagon official familiar with the report who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to set the record straight. Gen. Shinseki, who was commander of U.S. peacekeeping troops in Bosnia for 15 months, said the surprise Russian troop deployment probably was an outgrowth of Moscow's severing of ties to NATO during the Yugoslav bombing campaign. The Russians in Bosnia were hand-picked troops who were "very competent, tough soldiers." NATO forces could have overpowered the Russians and taken control of the airport if a decision was made to do so, he said. "I don't think that it was a question of their capability to do that," he said. The surprise deployment of the Russians provided Moscow with leverage in negotiations with NATO in the following da!
!
ys that gave the Russians continued control over the airport and an agreement to reinforce the 200 soldiers with additional forces. Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported June 15 that the rapid deployment of troops was planned in secret by the chief of the general staff, Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and Sergei Stepashin, Russia's prime minister. The plan involved sending false radio signals to fool U.S. intelligence agencies, a plan that apparently failed. The Russian commander of the Kosovo force was later promoted to colonel general by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who said days later that he had approved the deployment. White House National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger told reporters in Cologne, Germany, on Sunday that Mr. Clinton never raised the Russian troops deployment to Pristina airport with Mr. Yeltsin during their meeting. The president did not want to anger the Russian leader, he said. "I think that we've already heard the Russian explanation," !
!
Mr. Berger said. "I don't expect that there would have been any different explanation had the president raised it. And it simply would have diverted this meeting into a rehash of recriminations on both sides. I think the president was determined, since we know what the Russian explanation -- official explanation -- is, to focus on rebuilding the relationship, on renewal."