RUSSIAN AND MACEDONIAN PRESIDENTS HAVE A TELEPHONE CONVERSATION








MOSCOW, March 5, 2001 /from a RIA Novosti correspondent/ -- In the evening of March 4, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Macedonia Boris Trajkovsky had a telephone conversation. 


	As the press secretary of the Russian President, Alexei  Gromov, reported, the conversation took place on the initiative of the Macedonian President. 


	Boris Trajkovsky expressed his deep concern about the  development of the situation at the border with Kosovo, Yougoslavia. Of late, Albanian extremists have appreciably intensified their activity. According to his assessment, their actions are aimed at destabilising the situation in Macedonia. Boris Trajkovsky came out for additional efforts on the part of the international community with the aim of preventing the escalation of tension in the Balkans. 


	In his turn, Vladimir Putin pointed out that Russia viewed with alarm  the increasing activity of Albanian extremists in the north-west of Macedonia and in the Presov valley in the south of Serbia; it causes new victims and threatens to aggravate the  situation to the breaking point.  


	The Russian President stated that our country would take all the necessary measures to prevent the escalation of the conflict  and to preserve stability on the Balkan Peninsula.  -O- (kos/ant) 


	05/03/01    10:18