BELGRADE, February 7 (AVN) - Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev will start negotiations with the Yugoslav military and political leadership here on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Russian delegation told the Military News Agency.
Sergeyev will meet his Yugoslav counterpart Slobodan Krapovic and Chief-of-Staff Neboisa Pavkovic in the morning, the spokesman said. The parties are planning to discuss the entire spectrum of issues related to military and military-technical co-operation between the two nations and the situation in Kosovo. The troubled Yugoslav province again witnessed an outbreak of violence as Albanian separatists holding 22 Serb villages in the so-called security zone started large-scale hostilities with artillery fire on Tuesday.
At the end of the meeting, Sergeyev and the two Yugoslav officials are to sign a programme for development of ties between the Russian Armed Forces and the Yugoslav army for 2001 and the following years.
In the afternoon Sergeyev is expected to meet Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica to discuss bilateral military co-operation in the light of stabilisation in the Balkans, the spokesman said. In particular, the officials are planning to consider the Yugoslav government's stabilisation plan for the southern Serbian Preshevo valley and strengthening of controls over implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
The Russian minister will leave Belgrade for Kosovo at 0800 GMT on Thursday.