[PEN-L:7688] Russian Envoy Branded 'Traitor'

["Frank Durgin" <fdurgin1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

                          St Petersburg Times
   #471, Friday, June 4, 1999



                      TOP STORY


                      Russian Envoy Branded 'Traitor'

                      By Andrei Zolotov Jr.
                      STAFF WRITER

                      MOSCOW - The Kosovo peace plan accepted Thursday by
Yugoslavia
                      may have champagne corks popping in the West, but
back in Russia
                      Special Envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin faces a tough task
defending the plan
                      and his role in the negotiations.

                      The Russian public and politicians have been
frustrated by his failure to
                      win substantial concessions from NATO, and the
settlement plan
                      announced Thursday is almost certain to be seen as a
near total
                      capitulation to the Western military alliance.

                      The deal - which says NATO air strikes may continue
until the beginning
                      of a Serb withdrawal is verified and leaves unclear
who will exercise the
                      "unified control and command" of international
security personnel "with
                      an essential NATO participation" - looks like a
surrender of Russian
                      demands for an immediate halt to the bombings and for
putting the United
                      Nations firmly in charge of peacekeeping.

                      At least on the ever-growing anti-Western flank of
Russian politics, the
                      peace plan is perceived as Chernomyrdin's failure to
defend Yugoslavia's
                      and Russia's interests against heavy pressure from
Washington and other
                      NATO powers.

                      Upon his return to Moscow on Thursday evening,
Chernomyrdin,
                      apparently aware of the harsh criticism, appeared to
try to shift
                      responsibility toward President Boris Yeltsin, who
approved the
                      instructions for the Russian delegation. "Russia has
not retreated from
                      those principles that were worked out under the
direction of [Yeltsin]," he
                      said.

                      Even before the details of the Bonn agreement were
released, left-wing and
                      nationalist State Duma deputies began their session
Thursday morning by
                      lashing out at Chernomyrdin.

                      The Duma voted to invite high-level representatives
of the Foreign and
                      Defense ministries, as well as Yugoslav ambassador to
Moscow, Borislav
                      Milosevic, for immediate hearings. But after
Yeltsin's representative in the
                      Duma, Alexander Kotenkov, insisted that no one would
report to the
                      Duma before negotiators reported to Yeltsin, the
hearings were postponed
                      until 5 p.m. Friday.

                      Fueling the harsh reaction of the deputies were media
reports that Russian
                      generals who were part of Chernomyrdin's negotiating
team disagreed with
                      the envoy. Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov, who is in charge
of the military's
                      foreign contacts and is known for his hawkish
position on Yugoslavia,
                      was a member of Russian delegation.

                      Chernomyrdin and Ivashov denied that there were
disagreements.

                      Ivashov, however, said the military part of Russia's
delegation was "not
                      quite satisfied with the imposed role of NATO and the
diminishing of
                      Russia's position in the conflict settlement."

                      Agrarian faction leader Nikolai Kha ritonov accused
Chernomyrdin of
                      carrying out a "Munich conspiracy" by appeasing NATO.
"Even the
                      generals who were at the negotiations with
Chernomyrdin are puzzled,"
                      Kha ri to nov said at the Duma session.

                      While representatives of Chernomyrdin's Our Home Is
Russia party
                      attempted to defend their boss, nationalist Deputy
Vladimir Zhirinovsky
                      attacked both the former prime minister and the
Agrarians, saying that "a
                      gas specialist should not be working in foreign
policy," nor should
                      agricultural lobbyists meddle in Balkan affairs.

                      The Duma opposition's negative reaction to
Chernomyrdin's efforts is not
                      entirely new. Earlier this week, Communist leader
Gennady Zyuganov
                      labeled Chernomyrdin not a special envoy, but a
"special traitor."

                      "I have not heard from Chernomyrdin any coherent
programs connected
                      with a Yugoslavia settlement," Zyuganov said. "If he
carries out the
                      assignments of [U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine]
Albright or whoever
                      else, he is playing the role of a special traitor in
order to successfully sell
                      out our interests in the Balkans."

                      Vladimir Lukin, member of the liberal Yabloko party
and chairman of the
                      international affairs committee, tried to introduce
some moderation into
                      Thursday's heated discussion. He said deputies should
find out the details
                      of the negotiations before making a judgment.

                      In a telephone interview Thursday, moderate
left-leaning nationalist Alexei
                      Podberyozkin, who is deputy chairman of the Duma's
foreign affairs
                      committee, predicted that when the deputies hear
diplomats' and generals'
                      reports on Friday, their reaction will be sharply
negative.

                      "The conditions that Chernomyrdin brought to Belgrade
are absolutely
                      unacceptable," Podberyozkin said. "It is impossible
to withdraw troops
                      under bombings. "America needs a victory. In this
case, that is precisely
                      what this turns out to be: Yugoslavia has been broken
by NATO's strikes
                      and will be occupied. Chernomyrdin brought [to
Belgrade] the conditions
                      for Yugoslavia's capitulation," he said.

                      Only last week Chernomyrdin had warned in an article
in The
                      Washington Post that if NATO did not stop its
bombings, Russia might
                      withdraw from the negotiating process. His public
appeal, which reiterated
                      that Russia's role was to mediate and not sell NATO's
demands to
                      Belgrade, was in response to U.S. President Bill
Clinton's article in the New
                      York Times on May 23, in which he said that Russia
was "helping to work
                      out a way for Belgrade to meet our conditions."

                      Clinton turns out to have been right, Podberyozkin
said. "Russia,
                      represented by Chernomyrdin, negotiated not even on
behalf of NATO, but
                      on behalf of the U.S."

                      Yeltsin's attempt to give Chernomyrdin a chance to
earn political capital at
                      home, which could have increased his meager chances
in next year's
                      presidential elections, has failed, Podberyozkin
said. "Chernomyrdin has
                      proved once again that as a politician, he is null."

                      Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin countered nationalist
frustration with
                      Russia's role in the Balkan crisis by saying Thursday
that it is wrong to
                      keep saying how "great" Russia is while it is
"treated like a third-rate
                      power."

                      Russia can only speak of its greatness when it
achieves a "European level"
                      in GDP, standard of living, and development of
science and culture,
                      Stepashin said.

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1999