Moscow Angered by NATO Plan of Exercises Without Russia

Russia on Wednesday voiced anger over NATO's plan to hold joint exercises in Kosovo without Russia.

"This kind of decision can only be seen as an attempt to diminish Russia's role in the peacekeeping operation" in the Yugoslav province, Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, head of the

Russian Defense Ministry's Main Department for International Military Cooperation, said.

"This hampers the establishment of broader contacts between Russia and NATO in settling the situation in Kosovo, and in the broader context as well," the Interfax news agency quoted him as

saying.

Russia-NATO ties, frozen last March when NATO launched a 78-day airstrikes on Yugoslavia, showed signs of improvement recently with a visit to Moscow earlier this month by George Robertson, the secretary general of the 19-member transatlantic alliance.

Ivashov said that "by organizing these exercises NATO is trying to put pressure on the Yugoslav leadership in order to change its structure and political orientation."

Russia has not received any invitation to take part in the exercises, although they will involve not only NATO member-states, but also other countries whose representatives are taking part in the peacekeeping operation in Kosovo.

About 3,600 Russian troops are stationed in Kosovo as part of a multinational force, or KFOR.

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