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Clinton Calls Putin on Yugoslavia's Escalating Tension
President Bill Clinton on Saturday called Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed with him over what the United States said was a political crisis in Yugoslavia following its presidential election.
White House spokesman P.J. Crowley said Clinton and Putin spoke for about 35 minutes and both agreed to continue consulting closely about the political crisis.
Crowley said Clinton urged Putin to help mediate in Yugoslavia's escalating tension over its disputed presidential election.
Clinton stressed that Russia, because of its historical ties to the Serbian people, was in a position to play a role as an intermediary, Crowley said. But Putin told Clinton that Moscow's proposal to send Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to Belgrade had been rejected.
In the first vote last Sunday, both Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic and opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica failed to win over half of the votes and Milosevic insisted that the country must go through a second vote. But supporters of Kostunica claimed that the opposition leader won the first vote and that Milosevic should step down.
Earlier in the day, Milosevic said at an army ceremony that he would not accept any outside pressure to leave his post. He said Yugoslavia would resist just as it had done when NATO bombed the country.
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