USA/UN: DRAWING ALLUSIONS TO ADOLF HITLER, U.S. PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON REGARDS YUGOSLAV PRESIDENTS SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC AS THE SOLE CAUSE OF WAR IN THE BALKANS /U.N. RUSSIA'S AMBASSAROR SERGEI LAVROV REITERATES HIS COUNTRY POSITION ON KOSOVO PEACE PLAN

Record ID: 552798

  • Title: USA/UN: DRAWING ALLUSIONS TO ADOLF HITLER, U.S. PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON REGARDS YUGOSLAV PRESIDENTS SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC AS THE SOLE CAUSE OF WAR IN THE BALKANS /U.N. RUSSIA'S AMBASSAROR SERGEI LAVROV REITERATES HIS COUNTRY POSITION ON KOSOVO PEACE PLAN
  • Date: 14th May 1999
  • Summary: UNITED NATIONS (MAY 13, 1999) (REUTERS) SLV RUSSIA'S AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS, SERGEI LAVROV AT PODIUM MCU (English) LAVROV SAYING: "I explained, I think, I explained, i think that this does not mean that the resolution discussion could not continue, but I don't see how a resolution could actually be adopted if there is no stop of the bombing." SLV MEDIA MCU (English) LAVROV SAYING: "I would not speculate what the Chinese position is going to be, but I would reiterate once again that China must get justice from the Security Council after the embassy bombing. This is a very important and immediate task." SV JOURNALISTS
  • Embargoed: 29th May 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FORT MCNAIR; ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES AND UNITED NATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8QAC1L0J0TKVZPN3TRPLKFFB6
  • Story Text: Drawing allusions to Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust, U.S.President Bill Clinton on Thursday (May 13) castigated Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic as the sole cause of war in the Balkans, and said NATO will not stop its bombing until all its demands are met.Meanwhile Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.) reiterated his country's position that the bombing must stop immediately, and that there must be justice for China over the bombing of its embassy in in Belgrade.
    In a lengthy address to a gathering of current military officers and retired combat veterans, U.S.President Bill Clinton offered his rationale for the conflict, citing atrocities against ethnic Albanians and the moral obligation not to ignore them.
    Faced with the embarrassment of the mistaken attack on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and some erosion in public support for the war effort, Clinton avoided saber-rattling rhetoric and instead offered an overview of what led to the military action.
    He blamed the war on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Clinton said that "though his ethnic cleansing is not the same as the ethnic extermination of the Holocaust, the two are related -- both vicious, premeditated, systematic oppression fueled by religious and ethnic hatred."
    The president reiterated the basic NATO demands to end the war -- that ethnic Albanians be allowed to return home under the protection of an international peacekeeping force with NATO at its core.He added that the attacks over on Serbia would continue until they "grind down its war machine."
    Clinton once again expressed remourse for the accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, saying that he grieved for the loss of innocent lives, but he added that he also grieved "for the loss of the innocent Kosovars who were put in a military vehicle that our people thought was a military vehicle, and they've often been used as shields."
    At the United Nations (U.N.), Russia's Ambassador, Sergei Lavrov reiterated his country's position that no resolution on a Kosovo peace plan could be adopted until NATO's bombing campaign stopped.While he did not speculate on what sort of demands China would make as compensation for the bombing of its embassy, Lavrov said "China must get justice from the Security Coucil after the embassy bombing," calling it a "a very important and immediate task."
    Perhaps in an attempt to explain another purpose for the constant bombings of Belgrade and Milosevic's army, Defense Department Spokesman Kenneth Bacon said the "psychological dynamic" of the attacks must be taken into account.
    He said Milosevic did not expect "NATO would attack him in the first place, it did." He added that Milosevic did not believe "NATO could stay unified for a long period of time, it has."
    Bacon echoed the President Clinton's words from earlier in the day, when he said that NATO and its allies were ready to "embrace" Serbia.Bacon said the international community "is interested in rebuilding Kosovo," adding that The sooner the fighting stops the less daunting the task.The longer it goes on the more daunting."
    Blaming the conflict on the Yugoslavian President and Serb forces, Bacon said they were responsible for the physical damaged caused in Serbia, in their attempt to fulfill Milosevic's ethnic cleansing agenda.
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