Putin to use force
in Macedonia?

Warning that the military clashes occurring in the small Balkan nation of Macedonia could “spill over … into the rest of the Balkan Peninsula,” Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a letter of support to Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, promising diplomatic and military cooperation.

Putin’s letter was delivered by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who is currently visiting heads of state in the Balkans, the area of the world known as the “powder keg of Europe.”

Putin declared that “decisive political action — and, if necessary, the use of force” can avert a wider Balkan war. He also said that Russia would be willing to join “Europe and the United States in diplomatic — and possibly military — efforts” to end the crisis in the region.

Putin’s remarks were carried by the Voice of Russia World Service, the official broadcasting service of the Russian government.

On Monday, Ivanov blamed NATO for the present instability in the region, stating that NATO had turned Kosovo — the nominally Yugoslav province which it has occupied since the end of the 1999 air war — “into a breeding ground of terrorism.”

New Talibans

The prime minister of the Republic of Macedonia, Ljubco Georgievski, whose second largest city is currently under attack by ethnic Albanian separatists, declared in a recent press interview that the current round of bloodshed in the Balkans is part of an “organized and long-planned aggression.”

The ethnic Albanian guerrilla forces operating in Macedonia refer to themselves as the National Liberation Army. Their numbers are estimated to range from 500 to 2,000 fighters.

Many observers consider the fighters in Macedonia to be linked to separatists in Kosovo and the south of Serbia, who are bound in a common struggle for the eventual goal of a “Greater Albania.”

The National Liberation Army’s source of support is Kosovo, according to Georgievski.

“Logistics, commanders, organization comes from Kosovo,” he said. Georgievski also claimed that former Kosovo Liberation Army personnel are now engaged in the fighting in Macedonia.

Georgievski’s remarks were reported by Radio Bulgaria International, the official broadcasting service of the Bulgarian government.

While acknowledging NATO’s political support for the government of Macedonia, Georgievski echoed Ivanov’s criticism of the alliance.

“We want them [NATO] to clearly admit” that the current struggle in Macedonia is an “overflowing of the Kosovo crisis.”

“The international community hesitates to admit that fact,” Georgievski stated, “because it would mean … its policy has failed.”

Georgievski also raised the specter that past support of the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo has had the unintended effect of establishing an Islamic fundamentalist, Taliban-like presence close to the heart of Europe.

NATO and the international community, according to Georgievski, have been “fighting only to create a new type of Taliban. Western democracies created new Talibans, and that … [will] become one of Europe’s future problems.”

Negotiations are out of the question, according to Georgievski, stating that his nation has “only one will — terrorism to be destroyed once and for all.”

The regional powers of Greece and Bulgaria have already provided military hardware to Macedonia. As to the use of foreign troops in the conflict, Georgievski stated that he did not believe that Macedonia presently needed foreign soldiers. He did acknowledge that if his nation did require such aid, troops should be supplied from the international community as a whole, not from an individual country.

The probability of NATO or the international community coming to Macedonia’s aid with troops is, at present, slight. Both the EU and NATO are loath to intervene in the Macedonian struggle, and there is even disagreement as to the analysis of the strength of the ethnic Albanian forces in Macedonia.

According to the Radio Bulgaria report, U.N. special envoy for the Balkans Carl Bildt expressed disagreement with NATO Secretary General George Robertson over the numbers and organizational structure of the separatists. While Robertson sees the separatists in Macedonia as a small, relatively isolated group, Bildt warns of a “fairly well-organized” force that controls “an entire region” of Macedonia.

Bildt also observed that Macedonia’s army is “badly armed,” and heavily dependent upon the Albanian minority for manpower. Approximately 40 percent of the Macedonian army is comprised of ethnic Albanians.