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Clinton: Yugo peace claim is 'illusion'

Clinton criticizes Milosevic for creating the "illusion" of compliance with NATO demands  ALSO Cypriot envoy: Talks on freeing U.S. soldiers fail U.S. casts doubt on Cuban base as refugee site Britain says Milosevic 'feeling the heat' Yeltsin warns of possible world war over Kosovo Serbs reportedly planting land mines to create Kosovo 'no man's land'  MESSAGE BOARD Crisis in Kosovo

Albright and Russian counterpart to meet next week

April 9, 1999
Web posted at: 2:31 p.m. EDT (1431 GMT)

In this story: NATO won't settle for 'half-measures' Moscow: 'No orders' on missiles RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton accused Yugoslavia's leader Friday of trying to create the "illusion" that NATO's demands for Kosovo are being met. But on the 17th day of airstrikes, Clinton vowed not to accept what he called "half measures" from President Slobodan Milosevic.

The State Department, meantime, announced that U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will meet in Oslo on Tuesday to discuss the attacks on Yugoslavia, which Moscow has denounced.

Word of the April 13 meeting in the Norwegian capital came as Washington said it had been assured by Moscow that Russia would stay out of the Yugoslav conflict and had not retargeted NATO countries with nuclear weapons, as had been reported earlier in the day.

NATO won't settle for 'half-measures'

Clinton's comments at the White House followed Yugoslavia's assertion that its crackdown on the independence-minded Kosovo Liberation Army is complete and that "peace has prevailed" in the Serb province.

Nearly a million ethnic Albanians have been chased from their homes, and Yugoslavia is now preventing refugees from leaving Kosovo, having choked off nearly all border escape routes.

"Milosevic still thinks he can manipulate the situation by cynically using innocent people. He hopes we will accept as permanent the result of his ethnic cleansing. We will not," Clinton said. "Not when a quarter of Kosovo's people are living in refugee camps beyond Kosovo's borders."

"What we have from Mr. Milosevic is the illusion of partial compliance," the president said. "We and our allies have properly rejected it."

"If we settle for half-measures from Mr. Milosevic, we will get nothing more," Clinton said.

The 19-nation alliance demands that Milosevic accept terms of a U.S.-brokered peace accord, withdraw his military police and paramilitary forces and allow hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians to return to their homes in Kosovo province, accompanied by a NATO-led security force.

Speaking before a trip to Philadelphia, the president said he was pleased that a toll-free number (1-800-USAID-RELIEF) set up by the U.S. government to take Kosovo relief donations had received 15,000 calls.

He also said first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday would visit Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, "the main East Coast departure point for humanitarian supplies," to observe and recognize the continuing NATO-led humanitarian relief efforts for Kosovo refugees.

Moscow: 'No orders' on missiles

Yeltsin vows Russia will not get involved militarily in the Yugoslavia conflict

Earlier Friday, both U.S. and Moscow sources told CNN there is no evidence that Russia has retargeted its nuclear arsenal as part of its anger at NATO for airstrikes on Yugoslavia. The Russian government also officially denied the report.

Concern was raised when the speaker of the Russian Duma (parliament), Gennady Seleznyov, reportedly said President Boris Yeltsin had ordered that Russian strategic missiles be aimed at NATO nations.

The report was denied by Ivanov who said he was not aware of any such presidential directive.

"As far as the Foreign Ministry is aware, no orders regarding missiles have been issued," he told a Moscow news conference. "Russia will stand by all international commitments, including those regarding arms."

In Washington, a spokesman for the National Security Council said the U.S. Embassy in Moscow had relayed word that Russia's strategic missile forces had not received orders to change missile targeting.

"We hope and expect President Yeltsin will abide by his prior statements that Russia will not get militarily involved in this situation," said NSC spokesman Mike Hammer.

In Moscow, a spokesman for the Russian Strategic Nuclear Services Command also told CNN that such reports were false.

Yeltsin has said repeatedly that Russia will not be drawn into the Yugoslav conflict militarily.

In remarks on Friday, however, he warned NATO not to send ground troops into Yugoslavia and "make it their protectorate," saying such a development could prompt a stronger response from Russia.

The White House insisted Moscow's position had not changed.

"We've been officially reassured at a high level that Russia will not be drawn into the conflict into the Balkans," spokesman Joe Lockhart said.

"We've also been reassured that President Yeltsin has given no instructions to target NATO countries involved in the Balkans," he said.

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