SLATINA, Kosovo, January 18 (AVN) - KFOR Commander Lieutenant-General Carlo Cabigiosu, Italian Army, has met the commander of the Russian Peacekeeping Contingent in Kosovo, Major-General Vladimir Kazantsev, at the KFOR headquarters in Pristina, a spokesman for the Russian contingent staff said on Thursday.
The meeting was also attended by Colonel Anatoly Kiselev, the Russian Defence Ministry's envoy to the KFOR headquarters, the spokesman told the Military News Agency.
The parties discussed life and activities of the Russian peacekeepers, accomplishment of peacekeeping missions by battalion task forces in their zones of responsibility, the situation in the Preshevo valley, where Albanian guerrillas are holding Serb localities in the 5km security zone, and the scandal around the US depleted uranium ammo.
Kazantsev reported to the KFOR commander on the profound medical examination of Russian peacekeepers at the Russian military hospital in the locality of Kosovo Pole. No cases of leukaemia were registered, he said.
The officials also discussed participation of Russian representatives in the KFOR commander's meetings with the Yugoslav leadership. Cabigiosu agreed to send a request to the NATO Headquarters in Brussels and said he was hoping that a permission would be granted.
The meeting showed that KFOR is indeed interested in closer co-operation with the Russian peacekeepers command in the spheres where the interests of the parties are close or coinciding, the spokesman said. The Russian staff believes the KFOR leadership has understood the complexity of their mission which is impossible to accomplish unless all peacekeepers, including Russians, pool efforts to achieve a common goal.