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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Second Act

27 April, 1999 - 00:00

By Vitaly PORTNYKOV,The Day
Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who discusses ways of settling the Yugoslav
crisis with the former premier Viktor Chernomyrdin rather than current
Premier Yevgeny Primakov, is an apparent symbol of the desire to find a
way out of the impasse in which all parties to the on-going Balkan tragedy
are foundering.

Perhaps if Russia had displayed a desire to resolve the problem in the
very first days of NATO strikes on Yugoslavia, there would not have been
an almost month-long period of bombing and a disastrous exodus of Kosovo
refugees, etc. Do I exaggerate? Well, let us recall: Yeltsin's first statements
after the beginning of the strikes clearly featured Mr. Primakov's strongly-worded
notes, let alone the statements by Mr. Primakov himself or Russian Foreign
Minister Igor Ivanov. However, the policy of iron words not backed up by
iron deeds has this time taken quite an unexpected turn. The Belgrade dictator
has felt that the world is again being split down the middle stand fast,
until the last Albanian or Serb is dead, if only to bring back the good
old days. The West has been left without a go-between, for Kyiv, for all
its good intentions, does not seem to have been able to play such a role
the way Moscow could. (I recall being told by my Belgrade interlocutors,
who spoke with me as a Ukrainian journalist somewhere, when you go back,
please give our kind regards to the great Russian people...). Yugoslavia
came under the shower of bombs when Slobodan Milosevic was zealously fulfilling
the maximum program of Serbian chauvinism: Kosovo without Albanians, i.e.,
without people.

Today, Moscow speaks about the necessity of an international presence
in Kosovo and is ready to further persuade Mr. Milosevic to accept this
idea. In other words, Moscow begins to understand that in a situation in
which Slobo has found himself the best thing is to "strangle him in a fraternal
hug" rather than let itself be used... This policy may be more successful
and lead to initial steps in seeking a solution. However, the current Russian
leadership looks like an actor who, angered with a supporting role offered,
stands backstage for a long time, surprised that the show is dying for
lack of only one performer. And only in the second act does he finally
decide to go onstage.

However, this is only but the second act.

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