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Preventing acts of revenge, such as setting houses ablaze, may be one of the greatest challenges for NATO peacekeepers  MILITARY PLAN: RELATED VIDEO CNN's Jim Clancy reports on the difficulties that NATO peacekeepers face (June 18) Windows Media 28K 80K Russia says it wants to send troops to Kosovo, but when CNN's Steve Harrigan pays a visit to a base outside Moscow, the militia doesn't even have gasoline (June 18) Windows Media 28K 80K Tour damage NATO caused in Kosovo, with CNN's Christiane Amanpour (June 18) Windows Media 28K 80K Even though NATO promised to protect them, Serbs are moving out of Kosovo. CNN's Richard Blystone reports. (June 18) Windows Media 28K 80K Use the arrow buttons below to select the latest streams on the Kosovo situation.        Windows Media Real        28 K 80 K  INTERACTIVE KFOR enters Kosovo NATO rolls into Kosovo  ALSO: Agreement reached on Russian role in Kosovo force U.N. wants 2 weeks before Kosovar refugees return  MESSAGE BOARD: Crisis in Kosovo  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Focus on Kosovo

June 18, 1999
Web posted at: 10:10 p.m. EDT (0210 GMT)

In this story: KFOR liberates captives of KLA Orthodox bishop condemns Milosevic Agreement reached for Russian role in Kosovo KFOR securing mass burial sites RELATED STORIES, SITES

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- Yugoslav forces met a NATO deadline to withdraw from central Kosovo late Friday, as thousands of international peacekeepers entering the province sought to clamp down on revenge attacks by ethnic Albanian rebels.

A NATO spokesman said Yugoslav troops and Serbian police had pulled out of the central portion of Kosovo by midnight Friday (2200 Friday, GMT), complying with the second of three critical deadlines set by the alliance for Yugoslav forces to leave. Belgrade has until midnight Sunday (2200 Sunday, GMT) to withdraw all of its estimated 40,000 troops from the province.

Lt. Cmdr. Louis Garneaux said early Saturday that NATO troops were quickly moving in on the heels of the retreating Yugoslav forces "to prevent a security vacuum from developing."

More than 15,000 peacekeepers have moved into Kosovo in the past six days, forming the backbone of the NATO-led Kosovo implementation force, or KFOR. The force has been able to assert its authority faster than expected, officials said.

British peacekeepers confronted Yugoslav troops in Podujevo when the Yugoslavs tried to move down a main road in the town, where ethnic Albanian residents greeted the British happily. The French consolidated their hold on Mitrovica, and Italian peacekeepers set up their headquarters in Pec.

"As of now, KFOR is in every major town in Kosovo," said Lt. Col. Robin Clifford, a KFOR spokesman.

KFOR liberates captives of KLA

But even with Yugoslav forces on their way out, the road to full control remained bumpy. KFOR must not only monitor the Yugoslav withdrawal, it must head off any reprisals by the ethnic Albanians against the minority Serb population and others as hundreds of thousands of refugees return to Yugoslavia.

On Friday, German KFOR troops swooped into a former police station in Prizren that had been taken over by the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army, rescuing 14 prisoners who had apparently been beaten by their captors.

An elderly man was found dead, chained to a chair.

One man freed by the Germans showed lash wounds on his back, while another man's face and shirt was covered with blood. They told CNN's Mike Boettcher that they had been held there for three days.

Most of the prisoners were Albanian-speaking men, but at least one was a Serb and another said he was a gypsy, a German Army spokesman said. The KLA has accused gypsies of siding with Yugoslavia.

"The KLA said that I was a spy and had betrayed my people," said Skender Gashi, whose face was badly bruised.

The KLA claims the group was "part of a criminal element."

The German troops disarmed 25 KLA members inside the station and promptly arrested them. KFOR has said that all KLA members must put away their weapons by midnight Friday and stop wearing their uniforms within two days.

Other reports of abuse and violence multiplied: A Serb couple found dead on their home's doorstep, a 16-year-old Serb killed in a country road ambush.

Orthodox bishop condemns Milosevic

Up to 50,000 Serb civilians have already left Kosovo and the rest are increasingly fearful as Serb troops pull out to comply with last week's peace deal.

Bishop Artemije blames Milosevic for the atrocities in Kosovo

The moral authority of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Bishop Radosalovic Artemije, who himself fled Prizren for safety on Wednesday, urged the KLA and returning refugees not to exact revenge on innocent civilians.

"We understand the pain of the Albanian people and myself and my colleagues have spoken about the way the (Yugoslav President Slobodan) Milosevic regime treated the Albanian people. But we also say revenge crimes by Albanians won't do anyone any good in this crisis," he said.

Artemije condemned the increasing number of atrocities uncovered in the shattered province, placing the blame on Milosevic and his policies.

"We tell everyone we must define the difference between the Serbian people and the regime in Serbia. We feel no one in the world cares about making that distinction," Artemije told CNN's Jim Clancy.

"Because of the war in Croatia and Bosnia, all the Serbian people are punished with sanctions. Because of the problem in Kosovo, again the people of Serbia are punished with bombing. And it is not the people, but one man and his regime, that are responsible," he said.

Agreement reached for Russian role in Kosovo

In Helsinki, Finland, U.S. and Russian negotiators agreed Friday on a plan giving Russia a role in the NATO peacekeeping operation, following three days of marathon talks.

A Russian force, expected to number about 3,000 troops, will be assigned to the German, French and U.S. sectors of Kosovo, reporting directly to Russian commanders but serving under a NATO umbrella.

"This agreement recognizes the stakes that NATO and Russia share in Europe's future," U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said, adding that it also "protects NATO's fundamental interest."

The agreement, still subject to formal approval by NATO ambassadors and the Kremlin, would end the standoff at the airport in the Kosovo provincial capital, Pristina, which was occupied by 200 Russian troops in a surprise move last Saturday.

KFOR securing mass burial sites

As KFOR troops fan across Kosovo, they are also securing the scenes of possible atrocities found throughout the province.

Paul Risley, an investigator for the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal, said he couldn't verify a British estimate that as many as 10,000 bodies may have been dumped in mass graves. But he said investigators were "astonished at the scope" of the killings uncovered so far.

Investigators are trying to determine who is responsible for a growing list of horrors, many of them blamed on retreating Yugoslav forces.

"The chain of command is crucial to our case," Risley said.

Returning refugees and those Albanians who remained have taken journalists and peacekeepers to the scenes of several apparent massacres.

"It is not for the faint-hearted, but it is important that we know what we were fighting for," said British Armed Forces Minister Doug Henderson.

Sites are scattered all across the province, he said: "They show that no one was safe anywhere in Kosovo."

Correspondents Mike Boettcher, Richard Blystone and Jim Clancy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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