Russian policy on Kosovo has drawn closer to that of the United States despite the Kremlin's continued opposition to NATO air strikes. After intensive diplomatic activity in Moscow it has become clear that attempts to achieve a peaceful solution and NATO's bombing campaign will continue in parallel.
Mr Strobe Talbott, the US Deputy Secretary of State, yesterday met Mr Igor Ivanov, Russia's Foreign Minister, and Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, the special envoy of President Yeltsin on Yugoslavia in separate talks, both of which ran well over the time allotted.
Mr Talbott said he now understood Russia's position more fully.
"I learned even more about Russia's perception of the situation and I'm convinced that the United States and Russia are continuing to work together along with other countries to try to bring about a peaceful solution," he said after his meetings. Continuing in fluent Russian, Mr Talbott said that co-operation between Russia and the United States "continues and will continue".
The Greek Foreign Minister, Mr Georgi Papandreou, will arrive in Moscow today, and talks will also be held with the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, and Canada's Foreign Minister, Mr Lloyd Axworthy, in the Russian capital this week.
It emerged yesterday also that Mr Chernomyrdin may have a very strong card to play in persuading Mr Slobodan Milosevic to agree to terms imposed by NATO and Russia. Gazprom, the giant Russian natural gas company with which Mr Chernomyrdin is closely associated, currently supplies three million cubic metres of gas daily to Yugoslavia through a pipeline which runs through Ukraine and Hungary.
One of the key measures in finally ensuring a degree of co-operation from Russia has been NATO's change of stance on peace talks. Following its anniversary summit in Washington a significant softening in NATO's peace conditions was overshadowed in media reports by its decision to intensify its bombing campaign.
This softening which has helped bring Russia to the diplomatic forefront was agreed as a balance between the militant positions of the United States and Britain compared to the wishes of several European NATO members for a Russian-led diplomatic settlement.
Among the more significant changes in NATO policy is that it is now prepared to cease its campaign once the Yugoslav President has begun, rather than completed, the withdrawal of his forces from Kosovo. NATO's decision to get a mandate from the UN Security Council for the peacekeeping force to be deployed in Kosovo at the end of the conflict has also helped appease Moscow, as Russia's position as a permanent member of the Security Council would be taken into consideration.
It is not known if Russia has yet used its gas supply as leverage on Mr Milosevic, but Mr Chernomyrdin's contacts with Belgrade yesterday consisted, pointedly, of a phone conversation with the maverick Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Vuk Draskovic, who has in recent days broken ranks with Mr Milosevic.
