yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 3
Russian solidarity with Serbia over Kosovo in the years preceding
the nato action had led Serbia to believe that in the event of
nato intervention, it could rely on Russian support. Serbia went so
far as to expect Russian military engagement in such an eventuality.
Russia and China urged a resolution to halt the escalation of hostilities
but failed to push it through the un Security Council. In March,
Nezavisimaya gazeta, a leading Moscow newspaper, proposed that the
Kosovo action would trigger “the collapse of the u.s. global empire”
and that it was in Russia’s interest to let “the United States and nato
with its demented West and East European members bog down as
deep as possible in a Balkan war.” 439
The Kumanovo agreement that brought an end to the nato war
against Serbia was signed on June 9; the un Security Council adopted
Resolution 1244 the next day. The objective of the resolution was to
“solve the grave humanitarian situation in Kosovo” and to “make
possible the safe and free return of refugees and displaced persons to
their homes.” The resolution also sought to open a political process
for the resolution of the Kosovo crisis on the basis of a broad autonomy
for the province (paragraph 11). The immediate objective of
the resolution was to halt armed operations and legalize the envisaged
international civilian and military (above all nato) presence
in Kosovo while bringing the process of settlement of the Kosovo
crisis back on a political track within the framework of the United
Nations.
Resolution 1244 demanded that the fry end the violence and
repression in Kosovo and withdraw all military and police forces
within a set timeframe. The kla was asked to stop offensive actions
and to decommission its officers. The resolution also empowered the
un secretary-general to appoint a special representative for a civilian
presence in Kosovo and to lay out the tasks of both the civilian and
the military mission in consultation with the Security Council. The
439 March 25, 1999 .