MOSCOW. April 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Over 130 Russian servicemen flew from the Chkalovsky airfield in the Moscow region to the Slatina airport in the vicinity of Pristina on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Land Forces Staff told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The servicemen headed for the Balkans to join the Russian Peacekeeping Contingent within KFOR. At present the continent includes over 2,000 servicemen and some 400 pieces of ordnance.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said earlier that the contingent might be reduced in the near future. "We will remain there but the number of people is a matter of discussion and analysis," Ivanov said.
"I can admit a considerable reduction of the Russian contingent in Kosovo but it will require negotiations with our NATO partners. At the same time complete withdrawal of the Russian continent from Kosovo is not planned," he stressed.
The Russian defense minister criticized the progress in the Kosovo settlement. "At present the situation in Kovoso is as far from settlement as it was three or four years ago," he said.
Under current circumstances Kosovo is likely to become independent or join Albania, which runs contrary to all decisions of the global community, Ivanov noted. "I think that it is necessary to pass on from the military stage to the police stage involving the Serb party in Kosovo," he said.