General Sir Michael Jackson, the commander of Kfor, tried to put a brave face on NATO's loss of Slatina airport in Pristina yesterday. The British paratroop officer had planned to establish his own headquarters there, and NATO called it a "strategic location for a forward tactical base".
The British announced yesterday that they would make their headquarters in south Pristina, but did not state an exact location.
Gen Jackson looked tired at his first press conference, held in Pristina's cockroach-infested Grand Hotel. The black circles under his eyes were evidence of two nights spent negotiating with the Russian Gen Viktor Zavarzin.
And the haggling isn't over. Gen Jackson must now seek Gen Zavarzin's acquiescence for NATO access to the airfield. It is an urgent matter, since Slatina is needed to bring men and supplies directly into Kosovo, instead of ferrying them in by road. In seizing the airport, Moscow gained a choke-hold on the whole Kfor operation.
Control of the airport is only part of a wider dispute about the role of Russians in Kfor. Russia wants its own sector - like Britain, France, the US, Germany and Italy - but does not want to fall under NATO command.
Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin continued their efforts to resolve the impasse by talking to each other on the phone. The two will confer again this coming weekend at the G-8 summit in Cologne.
In parallel discussions Russia's Prime Minister, Mr Sergei Stepashin, spoke by telephone to US Vice-President Mr Al Gore and was quoted by the independent Interfax news agency as saying that Russia must "play an important role" in Kosovo as part of a peace force which is under UN auspices.
The US Under-Secretary of State, Mr Strobe Talbott, has offered Russia its own "area of responsibility", as distinct from a separate operational zone, which is what the Russians want and in which they would have the sole military presence.
The relevant section of the UN resolution on Kosovo reads: "The international security presence with substantial North Atlantic Treaty Organisation participation must be deployed under unified command and control and authorised to establish a safe environment for all people in Kosovo and to facilitate the safe return to their homes of all displaced persons and refugees."
NATO has interpreted the resolution to mean that NATO should be in charge. Russia disagrees and still refuses to place its soldiers under NATO control. It has proposed that a general from a non-NATO country be put in charge of the joint force.
Attempts by Russia to augment its small force at Pristina airport have been thwarted by the Hungarian and Bulgarian governments, which have refused permission for Russian military aircraft to use their air space. This would leave the Russians with the sole option of moving more troops from the Sfor UN operation in Bosnia through Serbia and into Kosovo. It was reported yesterday that about 100 Russian soldiers were preparing to depart from Bosnia to join the estimated 200 at Pristina airport.
Gen Jackson insists he is not squabbling over space. "I'm not in a turf war with them," he said. "Frankly, now I've seen the grounds, it is too far out of town. I was a bit concerned about unexploded ordnance, so I'm very happy to leave the airfield in Russian hands."
Laughter rippled through the press conference, because hundreds of foreign journalists here know how angered Gen Jackson was by the Russian move. "No, it's true," he protested. "If you think that's a feeble excuse, you're absolutely wrong.
"In due course, greater numbers [of Russian troops] will come," Gen Jackson said. "I welcome that."
The general grew irritated with journalists who repeatedly asked questions about the Russians and the airport. "This is a political matter at this stage," he said. "Did you hear that? That's the answer. That's it."
After a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Mr Igor Ivanov, on Sunday, the British Foreign Secretary Mr Robin Cook, said he had received a promise that no more Russian troops would be moved in without prior agreement with NATO.
But Mr Ivanov's assurances are not terribly reliable, since he had also promised that the Russians who arrived in the early hours of Saturday would be quickly withdrawn. Later that day - before the British had even arrived - The Irish Times encountered a second Russian convoy on the road to Slatina airport.
At the wheel of a black BMW with a telephone antenna and curtains in the back, a jubilant three-star general said more Russian convoys would be coming, and he expected Russian forces to stay "for years" at the airport.