Stung by NATO's rejection of its peace efforts, Russia has decided on a two-pronged approach to the Kosovo situation. The Prime Minister, Mr Yevgeny Primakov, and the Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, will continue through the Contact Group to try to get peace talks going again, while the Defence Minister, Mr Igor Sergeyev, plans to send a section of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet into the Adriatic.
Turkish officials said yesterday that they had received an official request from Russia for the passage of warships from the Black Sea through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles to the Mediterranean. It is understood that a squadron of seven ships including guided-missile destroyers and anti-submarine frigates will be sent to monitor NATO action in the Adriatic.
Under international maritime law merchant ships are free to pass through the Turkish straits but warships must get Ankara's permission. Russia's only other realistic option would be to send units of the Baltic fleet through the straits of Gibraltar.
President Yeltsin has stressed that Russia will not get embroiled in a Balkans war but a showing of the St Andrew's Flag of the Russian navy off the Yugoslav coast could help satisfy the more bloodthirsty elements back home.
The naval move is far more sensible than a lot of military activity that has been proposed. In the Federation Council (Senate) former vice-president Gen Alexander Rutskoy barracked other speakers with demands for Russia to break the arms embargo on Yugoslavia and install up-to-date air-defence systems.
Yugoslavia's current Russian-made ground-to-air equipment dates from the 1970s and early 1980s.
In the State Duma (Lower House) the action was even more frantic. A fist fight broke out between a communist deputy, Mr Vladimir Semago, and Mr Sergei Yushenkov from the house's tiny pro-western faction. Mr Semago, referring to a peace mission to Belgrade led by the former prime minister Mr Yegor Gaidar and his associates, roused Mr Yushenkov's anger by referring to them as a group of "political parrots" who were snubbed by the Yugoslavs.
Mr Yushenkov accused Mr Semago who, as well as being a communist is also a millionaire, of "political prostitution". Blows were exchanged and other deputies joined in.
At a closed committee session of the Federation Council earlier in the day, the Chief of Staff of Russia's armed forces, Gen Anatoly Kvashnin, advocated the use of nuclear weapons in the event of a direct threat to Russia's security from outside.
Russia still has the capability to destroy the planet several times over but it is understood that Gen Kvashnin's remarks were not made in the context of the current conflict in Yugoslavia.
The remarks, however, fitted in perfectly with the revival of the Cold War which has been sparked by the NATO action. The formerly pro-western Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper, for example, has compared President Clinton to the Stalin-era KGB chief Lavrenty Beria, a notorious womaniser who was responsible for the deaths of thousands. The bombing of Serbia has been described in terms such as "barbaric", "illegal" and "senseless".
Returning from his mission to Belgrade Mr Primakov described the US-led attacks as "tragically mistaken" and blamed NATO for the failure of his mission, using the Russian proverb "food whets the appetite" to suggest that the alliance had become bloodthirsty. He discounted claims of genocide in Kosovo and said refugees were fleeing from NATO attacks.
