Rebuilding Kosovo: Russia builds up its forces

THE PEACEKEEPERS

A Russian Ilyushin 76 transporter, the first aircraft to land in Kosovo since the Nato air campaign, touched down at Slatina air base yesterday with equipment and 39 troops, joining 200 paratroopers who dashed into Pristina just ahead of Nato forces more than two weeks ago. The Ilyushin was followed within minutes by a French C130, opening an air bridge over which Russian reinforcements are due to stream in over the next few days.

The lightning Russian operation to take control of the airport on 12 June came close to provoking a clash with British forces arriving from Macedonia a few hours later. Days of shuttle diplomacy were required before Moscow backed down from military demands, urged and supported by nationalist hardliners, for a military zone of their own in Kosovo. The eventual agreement for 3,600 Russians to be spread across the American, German and French zones has not been seriously tested so far, but the next few days will show whether the promise to co-operate with Nato is kept.

Under the deal, about 750 Russian troops will be based at Slatina, controlling the airfield and its immediate airspace in co-ordination with Nato, which will run the control tower.

Yesterday the Russian Ilyushin-76 and the French C-130 taxied to a stop near a grassy area holding the wreckage of a Serbian MiG fighter, the apparent target of one of Nato's many bombing raids. A Russian flag and the standard of the Russian airborne forces flew above the terminal building, with a Union flag off to one side.

As British and Russian troops intermingled on the tarmac, Lieutenant General Sir Mike Jackson, the commander of the peace implementation force K-For, said: "This is all part of bringing Kosovo back to normality and the better future that we all hope for all the people of Kosovo."

The airport is badly needed to bring in more troops to stabilise Kosovo, where Serbs are fleeing retribution from Albanians, and to channel aid to the refugees, who are pouring home at an ever accelerating rate.

According to Nato sources, negotiations on the day-to-day operation of the airport were as protracted as those leading to the overall agreement, delaying the arrival of the first aircraft until now. A Russian military spokesman said there would be six more flights today and tomorrow, while K-For expects a similar number within the next two weeks, once the facilities have been satisfactorily checked.

The arrival of the first Russian troops by air came with hours of Russian President Boris Yeltsin signing an order implementing the agreement with Nato, which was approved by the Russian parliament on Friday. Under his decree, Russia will also send 210 officials from the Interior Ministry and 30 border guards on a one-year assignment as part of its peacekeeping force.