Sir, - As a Bosnian living in Dublin, I strongly disagree with your Editorial comment (March 16th) that the presence of Russian troops in Kosovo as part of a NATO intervention force would be a "highly desirable outcome".
In Bosnia, the Russians fully supported Milosevic's troops. They were dreaded by the local Bosnian population. The Serbs were regularly allowed to violate the UN weapons exclusion zone. UN white armoured vehicles were frequently handed over to them by the Russians. They were informed of Bosnian defence positions. Col Paul Malherbe, a UN commander in the region, reported that the Russian military leader Loginov and his men "actively aided and abetted the ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs in the region". Loginov openly assisted the notorious paramilitary leader, the Arkan.
The real test of the current peace talks in France will be if the thousands of Kosovar refugees are allowed to return home. Virtually no Bosnian Muslims have returned to Russian (and French) patrolled eastern Bosnia. Under the Rambouillet Agreement there is no explicit mandate for NATO troops to arrest indicted war criminals. In Bosnia, Karadzic and other indicted war criminals live openly in the Pale/Foca region, again under Russian and French jurisdiction. Under the Rambouillet Agreement, Kosovo's borders are to remain under Milosevic's control, leaving the province under virtual siege. In the light of their previous pro-Serb behaviour there is no credible way that Russian troops will fairly supervise the conduct of Milosevic's troops in their designated area of responsibility.
The only outcome that could be seen to be "highly desirable" for the hundreds of thousands of Bosnian - as well as Kosovar - victims in the region would be the military defeat of Milosevic's genocidal war machine, which has wreaked havoc in the region since 1989. - Yours, etc., Dzevad Hadzic,
Hartstown, Clonsilla, Dublin 15.