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Russian Duma Votes to Bring Yugoslavia into a Slavic Union with Russia and Belarus
19 April, 1999
By Lawrence Morahan
CNS Staff Writer
(CNS) – In a vote that could lead to the revival of a form of the old Soviet Union, the Russian Duma on Friday voted by an overwhelming margin to bring Yugoslavia into a Slavic union with Russia and Belarus, a move Western observers fear could increase the risk of nuclear war over Kosovo.
The lower house of parliament voted 293 – 54 in favor of a resolution asking Russian President Boris Yeltsin to take immediate steps to bring Yugoslavia into the union. If enacted, this could oblige Russia to support Yugoslavia militarily in its conflict with NATO, and thereby put Russia on a collision course with the U.S.
Yugoslavia's parliament voted last week in favor of joining a Slavic union, and when the Belarusian president visited Yugoslav President Milosevic this week, Milosevic formally applied to the union.
Russians strongly oppose the NATO air operation, but Moscow repeatedly has stressed it had no plans to supply Milosevic with weapons.
The Clinton administration this week intensified its briefings of Congress, intended to bolster support for air strikes against Yugoslavia and secure the $3 billion to $4 billion in emergency funds the Pentagon estimates it needs to pay for them. Defense Secretary William Cohen, and Gen. Hugh Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed the House and Senate on Thursday.
The administration's task of winning broad support for the U.S.-led NATO action is made more difficult by a lack of clear and pragmatic objectives on the part of the nation's chief executive, military and political observers contend.
"It's hard to say if Clinton has boxed himself in until you understand what it is he's trying to do," James Farwell, a Republican strategist, told CNS.
"The challenge Clinton faces is that his goals are unclear," Farwell said. "This is complicated by the fact that he evidently did not think through either what he wanted to achieve or how to achieve it. The dilemma he has put the country in is that while lots of people have grave reservations about the diplomacy that got us into this war, once America has committed itself to a fight, lots of us think we owe it to those in uniform to win it.
"The other problem Clinton's actions have created is that having committed NATO to this engagement, it's not clear that any result that reflects failure wouldn't irrevocably damage a 50-year security alliance that has been very helpful to this nation's security interests," Farwell said.
Many lawmakers, including several prominent Republicans, currently oppose the mobilization of US ground forces because they also say the Clinton administration and NATO have not laid out a clear plan for such a move.
Still others, notably Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), have urged the administration to consider sending ground troops and called for a full congressional debate on the issue.
Speaking at the congressional briefings Thursday, McCain said he has "very grave concerns for the way in which this military campaign is being conducted."
"Limited actions beget limited results," McCain said. "You fight a war to win or you don't fight it at all."
General Shelton said a ground war would be "long and drawn-out" and could not go ahead without backing from NATO allies, Congress, and the American people.
No planning is under way for sending ground troops, Shelton added, stressing the air campaign is working. "We need to give it more time," he said.
Meanwhile NATO and humanitarian aid agencies in Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are bracing for an exodus of another 200,000 refugees in the next few days, as Serb forces appear to be making their final effort to drive the entire ethnic Albanian population out of Kosovo.
[Free Daily Front Page]
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