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Posted on 09/05/2001 10:41:56 AM PDT by oxi-nato

MOSCOW, Sept 5 (AFP) - Russia is blocking the expansion of an OSCE observer mission in Macedonia aimed at bringing stability to the country, diplomats warned Wednesday, as envoys arrived in Moscow for talks on the issue. "The Russians are dragging their heels," a Western diplomat close to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said, as the body prepared to up its presence in Macedonia in anticipation of NATO pulling out. The alliance's troops are currently in the second phase of a disarmament mission to collect arms from ethnic Albanian guerrillas under the terms of a Western-brokered peace accord.

But Moscow has conspicuously failed to back the NATO mission, with President Vladimir Putin describing it as a "pseudo-operation." The Kremlin has shown signs that it is concerned that NATO will dominate international peace efforts in Macedonia -- a further step by the alliance already encroaching on Russia's doorstep through enlargement plans. "I think that the Russians want to be sure that the OSCE will be totally dissociated from NATO," which is playing an ever larger role, a diplomatic source in Vienna said, under condition of anonymity.

Western envoys from the European Union, the United States and the OSCE were due to hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in Moscow on Thursday, aimed at persuading the Kremlin to support peace efforts. The EU envoy to Macedonia, Francois Leotard, and his US counterpart James Pardew were expected to push Ivanov to accept an increased OSCE mission in the Balkan country as part of international efforts to bring a stable and durable peace. They were expected to be joined by the OSCE's top envoy Max van der Stoel.

The Vienna-based organisation wants to double the number of its observers in Macedonia to oversee the return of normality to the country following a seven-month ethnic Albanian uprising. Under the terms of the August 13 peace accord, NATO troops were to collect 3,300 weapons from rebel hands in a mission strictly limited to one month. But both Skopje and the international community fear that NATO troops will pull out, leaving a security void in their wake. Speaking after his arrival in the Russian capital, Leotard said he wanted "to see whether Russia could contribute to an OSCE observer mission," in Macedonia.

In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo on Wednesday, Leotard said he wanted a light EU force to relieve NATO troops when they pull out of Macedonia -- expected to be at the end of the month. "We have in mind several hundred observers carrying out an observation and police advisory role," the EU envoy said. Russian soldiers are not taking part in NATO's operation Essential Harvest to disarm ethnic Albanian guerrillas because the mission has not been approved by the UN Security Council, Moscow officials have said.

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