| Today Russia is starting the second stage of the operation to provide humanitarian assistance to Serbian refugees in Kosovo. Russia was the first to come to the aid of the non-Albanian population of Kosovo, who suffered in the March ethnic cleansing planned by Kosovar extremists. The head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sergei SHOIGU, was personally involved in the organization of Russian humanitarian convoys for Kosovo in Serbia and Montenegro. Now the minister is telling Vremya Novostey special correspondent Katerina LABETSKAYA what kind of opposition he had to face from the Kosovo authorities.
- Russia, through its actions, prompted the Kosovo authorities to allocate funds (5 million euros. - Ed. ) for the restoration of housing and facilities for the non-Albanian population of Kosovo. If it weren’t for decisive steps on the part of our president, and Russia in general, this issue would have been resolved for a long, long time.
— Were the negotiations on receiving our humanitarian aid in Kosovo difficult?
- Negotiations began before departure. All this time, diplomats from our embassy in Belgrade and the Foreign Ministry in Moscow coordinated Russia’s humanitarian operation with the government of Serbia and Montenegro, with the special forces for Kosovo (KFOR), in New York. At first we were refused.
- Why did they refuse?
-- Cited security concerns and lack of need for assistance. And what is typical, they decided both for us and for those to whom the help was addressed. Like, we’ll do everything ourselves.
— Who exactly opposed our convoy to Kosovo?
-- Those who set the rules of the game: NATO, the UN Mission in Kosovo, and finally, the government of the pro-Albanian majority in Kosovo. They said that they would allocate funds to restore housing. Why did they allow it to be destroyed? What was it all about? To get another state on the territory of the former Yugoslavia? So they would say that they achieved this! But no, they were lying. Like, this is the situation in Kosovo, we need to bomb Serbia! They were bombed (in 1999 - Ed. ). The Serbs were given strict conditions, and they were fulfilled. And what? I drove through cities and saw destroyed farms. And these are jobs, industrial production, and the country’s economy. Where are the promised fabulous funds for restoration? And they also forgot about the well-promoted campaign with Kosovar refugees. (This became the reason for the bombing. - Ed. ). But we should remember! In 1999, everything happened before our eyes! 600 thousand refugees, camps for them, where Hillary Clinton, like in a zoo, threw candy behind the net.
- And now we are perceived as competitors?
-- No. Like a shoe stepping on a sore callus. Moreover, previously hidden, but now revealed to the world. It became obvious: five years have been wasted, there is no normalization of the situation in Kosovo and the West is not able to achieve it. And perhaps they protected the wrong people or not all of them. The situation in the region worsened every year. This has only become obvious to the world community now, but throughout the five years the smoldering flame has constantly haunted the non-Albanian population. And this flash! Did you notice that the President emphasized the fact that “the ethnic cleansing in this case is against the Serbs”? Now the Serbs need help.
We know the situation and have been closely monitoring it for more than ten years. We have been working in the region since 1993. Five years ago we helped refugees leaving Kosovo for Macedonia. Before that, for five years, we carried aid from Belgrade to the Muslim enclaves of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to Serbian villages behind the front line. Five to six convoys a week. Tens of thousands of tons of aid were transported. Now we are helping refugees in Kosovo. Our first planes took off from Moscow to Belgrade on March 22. These are first aid supplies - tents, beds, bedding, dishes. In total, we sent seven aircraft and a car convoy - six 40-ton super MAZs.
—You communicated with the leadership of S&Ch. What are Russia's positions there?
- They were and remain strong. At times they may weaken or intensify slightly. But without Russia, the problems in this region have never been solved and will never be solved due to our geographical location, our mentality, in which common history plays not the least, due to the significance of our country in the world.
-- After the events of 1999, the environment in Kosovo deteriorated. Is there still a danger today from depleted uranium shells, denied by NATO?
-- Certainly. Power is in the hands of those who used these ammunition, and, naturally, they did everything to “silence” this topic. But we, together with Swiss specialists, surveyed the territory, prepared a report and sent it to the UN, the World Health Organization. Our task is to help people. And such aspects as mines, chemistry, radiation, of course, are taken into account by us.
—Have you previously had to carry out political and diplomatic orders from the president?
— There were different missions. But the country’s leadership always gave the start. The first negotiations took place, and then the task of concretizing and implementing the plan was set. For example, I was tasked with leading the entire peacekeeping operation to resolve the conflict between South Ossetia and Georgia. We completed it. There has been no bloodshed there for 12 years. And by the time we arrived there, more than 3.5 thousand people had died. It was a real war. During the armed conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia, we were again on the front line. Constantly negotiated to save people. Humanitarian methods were put in first place. Several thousand people were evacuated and their life support was provided. But we are not diplomats. We always work together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and each of us has our own task to accomplish one common task.
— A group of businessmen accompanied you to Sich. Did you involve them in humanitarian aid?
- Both to humanitarian assistance and to the development of bilateral economic relations. The Russian Aluminum company, at its own expense and at its factories, produces residential modules (prefabricated structures - Ed. ) for a village for 100 families. Deliveries will begin in April.
— The Serbian Orthodox Church awarded you its highest Order of St. Sava. Are you the only Russian to receive it? By the way, are you Orthodox?
- At least during the award ceremony they said that this was the first award ceremony in Russia. And I was baptized abroad. At the age of five in the city of Stakhanov. Now this is independent Ukraine.
— How do you assess the situation with non-Albanian refugees from Kosovo and the Balkans in general?
- It is important for a person to know the future. For any refugee, the best rehabilitation is knowing their “tomorrow.” A year or two in temporary housing, but then space or funds must be allocated for the construction of normal housing. There must be work. And this main task is not being solved today. People hoped that with the arrival of KFOR the situation in the region would normalize and it would be possible to live there. Five years have passed, and there is nowhere to return. People have such hopelessness in their eyes! This is the worst thing. Everything else can be dealt with if you know how much longer to endure. Bosnian refugees are somehow returning. And Croatians too, or it would be more correct to call them Krajina Serbs. By the way, they were assisted in their repatriation by detachments of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations under the auspices of UNHCR (Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. - Ed. ). Almost all Albanian refugees have returned, and today we have no work in Macedonia. I am not a diplomat, I have a specific view of things. But if the situation develops according to the current scenario, with a series of outbursts of violence and a semblance of restoring order, the matter will not be limited to Kosovo. We have already seen violence in many Balkan countries. And it is far from a fact that it has been stopped forever.
— In Belgrade, your motorcade passed by the ruins left after NATO airstrikes. You witnessed these attacks in 1999, right?
- Then, first of all, the system of government of the country, energy, transport communications, buildings of the ministries of defense and internal affairs, all those who could resist were destroyed. Before our eyes, a bomb hit the Chinese Embassy, which was adjacent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We then spent the night in Belgrade. A great tragedy for innocent people, diplomats. That night I met with the Chinese Ambassador and offered my services to remove personnel from Belgrade. But China took out the personnel on special flights.
- Why haven't these objects been restored?
- There are not enough funds. The country's economy is not working, and at the same time, almost every eighth resident in Serbia is a refugee. There are no jobs, but these people need to be fed and provided with medicine. That's a lot of expense. Interviewed by Katerina LABETSKAYA
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