(31 Jan 2000) English/Nat
On the first of a three day visit to Moscow, U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Russia had 'paid a heavy price' to its Reputation because of its military offensive in Chechnya.
Albright's visit to Moscow is set to be dominated by Russia's conflict with Chechnya and Mideast peace talks set for Tuesday.
Albright will meet Russia's acting president Vladimir Putin later in the week.
Persistent U-S appeals to Russian leaders to end the conflict in Chechnya and negotiate with rebels have failed.
On arriving in Moscow on Monday Albright refused comment on any message she'd be delivering to the Russian acting premier Vladimir Putin regarding the war in Chechnya.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
Q: "How do you find Moscow?"
A: "So far it's cold because we arrived in the middle of the night, but I'm very pleased to be here."
Q: "What will be your message to Mr Putin on Chechnya?"
A: "I'll be giving that to him and I'll get back to you"
SUPER CAPTION: Madeleine Albright, U-S Secretary of State
Albright met with Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov on Monday.
After around four hours of talks with Ivanov, Albright and her Russian counterpart took a break to sign an agreement designed to tighten controls on technology used in launching U-S satellites from Russian space stations.
Later in the day at a joint press conference with Ivanov, Albright said the U-S believed the Russian military had used excessive force in Chechnya.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We have made it quite clear that we think there has been an incredible amount of misery inflicted on the civilian population of Chechnya both militarily and also because of the creation of so many refugees and that the humanitarian situation is very bad and that in order to deal with what is clearly a problem of terrorism that there has been excessive force used."
SUPER CAPTION: Madeleine Albright, U-S Secretary of State
The U-S Secretary of State made it clear that the U-S supported negotiations between Russia and Chechnya and not military action.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We believe there is no military solution to the Chechnya problem. We support the territorial integrity of Russia, but we don't think this can be resolved militarily and that political dialogue is very important."
SUPER CAPTION: Madeleine Albright, U-S Secretary of State
Later on Monday, Albright held a series of bilateral meetings with some of the participants of Tuesday's Middle East conference, among them, Israeli foreign minister David Levy and EU security supremo Xavier Solana.
At a meeting with Putin on Wednesday, Albright is expected to discuss sharp cuts in U-S and Russian long-range nuclear arsenals while urging the Kremlin leader to approve "modest adjustments" in a ban on missile defences.
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