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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, March 20, 2004

Putin denounces 'ethnic cleansing' in Kosovo

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday condemned the acts of "ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo and called for a "tough response" to protect Serbs in the province of Serbia and Montenegro.


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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday condemned the acts of "ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo and called for a "tough response" to protect Serbs in the province of Serbia and Montenegro.

"Russia cannot remain indifferent to what is going on" in Kosovo, Putin said at a regular meeting with the presidential staff, the premier and several ministers, the Interfax news agency reported.

"I am asking Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to clearly formulate Russia's position on this problem," Putin said.

Putin also noted that Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu will leave for Serbia and Montenegro soon, as many people are suffering from "grave events" there and measures should be taken to aid refugees.

Shoigu said "refugees have fled 20 communities in Serbian territory" and "urgent measures need to be taken to provide these people with vital necessities."

Ivanov, for his part, warned of serious implications for the entire region if efforts to settle the situation in Kosovo fails.

"What is needed now is to devise priority measures and find a common approach, which Shoigu should coordinate with the leadership of Serbia and Montenegro," he was quoted as saying.

Believing that the current developments in Kosovo "were obviously provoked" from the outside, Lavrov promised that Russia "will urgently draw up proposals on how to act further along the political avenue... in order to preserve the integrity of this state."

"This problem also has a common European dimension," Lavrov said, adding that "the Albanian factor in the Balkans in general is becoming increasingly troublesome."

The latest ethnic clashes in the UN-administered province have left 31 dead, more than 500 injured and forced many Kosovo Serbs to flee and seek protection from UN police and NATO-led peacekeepers.

Kosovo, a province of Serbia of the state union Serbia and Montenegro, has been under UN administration since June 1999 following 11 weeks of NATO bombing.

Serbian authorities often accuse NATO-led peacekeepers, which were deployed in the province to provide security, of failing to protect Serbian minority there.


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