(19 Mar 1999) Russian/Eng/Nat

Several hundred Yugoslav demonstrators and their allies held a noisy protest outside the U-S embassy in Moscow on Friday as the Kosovo peace talks in Paris seemed to have ground to a halt.

Official spokesman for the ministry Vladimir Rakhmanin said the agreement signed by ethnic Kosovo Albanians in Paris late on Thursday "lacked legal force".

The historical bond between Russia and Serbia has prompted Moscow to try all avenues that may prevent NATO air strikes against Serb forces.

But while President Milosevic continues to stonewall and reject the core of the peace plan - a NATO force to police the peace - the situation looks set to deteriorate.

Waving Yugoslav flags and touting anti-NATO placards, the Serbs chanted anti-American slogans to show their defiance in the face of airstrikes against their country.

VOXPOP: (Russian)
"Kosovo is Serbian. If the people don't want to live with us, they can live under the law, with autonomy. If they don't want to, then leave. The Albanian people is just our guest in Serbia."
SUPER CAPTION: Yugoslav demonstrator

The protest was the biggest of its kind in Moscow for some weeks and underlined Russia's close links with Serbia.

VOXPOP: (Russian)
" I am thankful for the support of my brother Russian, Belarussian and Ukrainian peoples. What's happening there (in the Balkans) is a repeat of the scenario of the first world war"
SUPER CAPTION: Demonstrator

Russians and Serbs share a common ethnic and religious origin, both being Slav and Orthodox Christian.

Deviating from common international opinion Russia has said the talks could still be salvaged and reiterated its opposition to NATO raids.

Some more radical Russian politicians have called for Moscow to beef up military cooperation with Belgrade and send volunteers to reinforce the Yugoslav army.

As a member of the Contact Group on former Yugoslavia Russia has been directly involved in the Paris talks and constantly called for a political solution to the crisis.

Vladimir Lukin, chair of the Russian parliament's international affairs committee, accused the Albanians of faking agreement to avoid the anger of their military commanders in the field.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The Albanians faked their acceptance of the agreement because they hope that
Yugoslavia will persist in opposing it and that is why they will be somehow safe from their field commanders, who are far from enthusiastic about this agreement"
SUPERCAPTION: Vladimir Lukin, chair of Duma international affairs committee

Official spokesman for the ministry Vladimir Rakhmanin said the agreement signed by ethnic Kosovo Albanians in Paris late on Thursday "lacked legal force".

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The unilateral signing of the document by the Albanian side is not legally correct. The Albanian side distributed a statement which says the Albanian side intends to proceed with a referendum on independence. That crosses out the possibility to proceed with political agreement."
SUPER CAPTION: Vladimir Rakhmanin, Russian foreign ministry spokesman

Russia appears increasingly to be standing shoulder to shoulder with Serbia, but there is a danger of Moscow affiliating itself too closely with a nation that most of the world regards as a violent oppressor of an indigenous people.

President Milosevic has been warned that the talks will not be restarted until he agrees to the deployment of NATO troops to monitor any peace deal - so far Serbia has shown no signs that it will agree to anything of the kind.

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