-Caveat Lector-
Yeltsin: "Apres moi, le deluge?" A military coup and hardliners in
power?
Russia Army Opposes Kosovo Deal
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) - When Russia's special envoy for Kosovo returned home last week
after brokering a peace plan, a stone-faced Russian general stood at his
shoulder and openly assailed the deal as a sellout to the West.
``Each of us should answer this question in his own soul - have we betrayed
Yugoslavia or not?'' said Gen. Leonid Ivashov, who accompanied envoy Viktor
Chernomyrdin, and represented Russia's Defense Ministry at the peace talks.
Now that Russia has agreed to the Kosovo peace plan, the military's
opposition to the terms of the deal and their support for Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic points to potential problems in implementing a
peacekeeping operation.
Russia and the seven leading industrialized nations, known together as the
Group of Eight, agreed Tuedsay to a draft U.N. resolution to end the Kosovo
crisis. But while NATO says it will be in charge of the peacekeeping force,
Russia says the full command structure still has to be negotiated.
Russia is considering sending up to 10,000 troops for a proposed force of
50,000. But Ivashov and other military officials have insisted Russian troops
will not serve under NATO command and their stance has become Russia's
official view.
``The president still determines the foreign policy, but he and his
pro-Western inner circle have become increasingly isolated,'' said Pavel
Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst. ``It's a struggle between two
groups, one of which favors a quick agreement with the West while another
stands for siding with the Serbs.''
Russian leaders have been unanimous in their condemnation of NATO raids on
Yugoslavia, but there have been differences on what the response should be.
While President Boris Yeltsin said from the start that Moscow wouldn't be
drawn into the war militarily, the military brass spoke of sending military
advisers - and even weapons - to Yugoslavia.
``They can fire a general, but they can't fire all of them,'' Felgenhauer
said. ``Ivashov expresses a broad opinion of the military elite. He's smart
enough to realize that once the current government is gone, his patriotic
statements will be fondly remembered.''
In any case, Yeltsin has not publicly censured Ivashov for his outspoken
remark. When he met with the assertive general a day later, there was no
indication that Yeltsin rebuked him.
Broad anti-Western sentiments among the Russian elite and a large segment of
the public make it hard for Yeltsin to censure Ivashov and other hawks
without further eroding his low popularity.
The Russian military has always been suspicious of NATO, and after a period
of improved relations in the first part of this decade, the military grew
wary as the alliance announced plans to expand. Then in March, three eastern
European nations joined NATO and the alliance began bombing Yugoslavia.
``There is a feeling that Russia will be the next victim after it had failed
to stop NATO in the Balkans,'' Felgenhauer said.
Yeltsin can't afford to be too critical of the military, because the Kremlin
has long used the same anti-NATO stance.
While highlighting a split in the Russian leadership, the hawkish statements
from Ivashov and other generals don't mean the nation's armed forces are on
the verge of open mutiny, most analysts say.
``The military opposition isn't structured, it's far from becoming an
independent political force,'' said Sergei Oznobishchev, the director of the
Institute for Strategic Assessment, an independent think-tank.
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