OSCE MISSION TO MONITOR MACEDONIAN-YUGOSLAV BORDER








MOSCOW, March 7, 2001 /RIA Novosti/ -- With the ethnic strife aggravating in Macedonian areas bordering on the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, the OSCE Mission in Skopje has been instructed to monitor the Macedonian-Yugoslav border, acting hand in glove with Macedonian government and reporting all developments.


	The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this decision was made at a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council held in Vienna the day before. The participant nations voiced their deep concern about the aggravation of violence in the Kosovo area. They condemned the actions of Albanian armed extremist factions that jeopardize the efforts to achieve a political settlement for the existing problems. Failure to take adequate measures would increase the risk of destabilizing the entire region, the participant nations agreed.


	The Russian Foreign Ministry officials reminded that Russia forcefully condemned the extremists' actions and demanded these actions be discontinued immediately, with the illegal armed formations disarmed and disbanded.


	Moscow diplomats cite UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which they say obligates the UN mission and the local peacekeeping force to aggressively move to stem the flow of weapons and armed fighters from Kosovo into Macedonia.