Russia's Balkans envoy, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, made a new plea to NATO yesterday to stop bombing Yugoslavia and aides said he planned to make a fresh mediatory visit to Belgrade on Thursday.
A spokeswoman for Mr Chernomyrdin said the envoy hoped to go on a joint mission with President Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, an EU mediator, after they and the US Deputy Secretary of State, Mr Strobe Talbott, meet in Moscow tomorrow. A final decision on the mission could depend on the outcome of tomorrow's talks. Mr Chernomyrdin, a former Russian prime minister, has changed his travel plans at short notice several times in the past few weeks.
Mr Ahtisaari's presence on the trip is less than certain. He said on Saturday that some key details would have to be clarified before he could go to Belgrade, and there is no sign of any major progress since then.
Mr Chernomyrdin has visited Belgrade three times since the crisis began on March 24th, and held talks there with President Slobodan Milosevic last week.
Despite a flurry of talks in Moscow last week with Mr Talbott, Mr Ahtisaari, the United Nations envoy, Mr Carl Bildt, and other foreign leaders, differences remain between Russia and the West over how to tackle the crisis and frustration is growing in Moscow.
"It is hard to carry out talks when mass air strikes are continuing on Yugoslavia," Mr Chernomyrdin told reporters at talks with the Indian Foreign Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh. "It cannot go on like this, so a solution has to be found."
Mr Singh said India also supported an end to the two-month-old bombing campaign, and made clear his country backed a bigger role in the crisis for the UN.
"The earlier the aerial bombardment ceases, the bigger the chances of restoration of normalcy in Yugoslavia, under the UN aegis," Mr Singh said.
One of the main differences is over the make-up of a force to enable refugees to return to Yugoslavia's Kosovo province.
Russia is unhappy that NATO wants Belgrade to withdraw all, rather than just some, of its forces from Kosovo, and wants any future international force operating firmly under UN auspices. NATO says alliance members must play the key role.
The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, said he hoped diplomacy would win out, but said the ball was now in the West's court. "It us our deep conviction that there are possibilities for a peaceful solution," he said.