The Hindu : Putin urges tough action to defend Serbs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 21, 2004

International

International

Putin urges tough action to defend Serbs

MOSCOW, MARCH 20. The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Saturday denounced violence in the Serbian province of Kosovo as "ethnic cleansing" and called for tough action to defend the Serb minority.

"Russia cannot watch indifferently what is going on there," Mr. Putin told a weekly Cabinet caucus meeting.

"This is nothing other than ethnic cleansing, and our Western colleagues acknowledge it too. There must be an adequate tough reaction to defend Serbs."

The Russian President asked the new Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the new Security Council head, Igor Ivanov, "to formulate Russia's clear stand on this issue."

The Foreign Minister said the crisis in Kosovo had been deliberately provoked and "jeopardised the entire plan for further settlement" in the region.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News Update

Stories in this Section

Anti-war protesters take to the streets

Narrow win for Chen; Opposition contests poll verdict

Arabs think they are worse off after Iraq war

Malaysia to go to the polls today

Karuna `whipping up regionalism'

Putin urges tough action to defend Serbs

Pakistan captures 100 `foreign' militants

U.S. drops charges against Muslim Chaplain

Clarification

Former Dutch Queen is dead

Transplant baby doing fine