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| SEC. ALBRIGHT COMMENTS | |
 April 13, 1999 
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U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebaek held a press conference after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in Oslo, Norway, to discuss U.S. and Russian differences over NATO's air strikes in Yugoslavia.
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MINISTER VOLLEBAEK: Let me, first of all, say to Secretary Albright that I'm very happy that she and Foreign Minister Ivanov met in Oslo, that we could avail an opportunity and a venue for their meeting. I'm sorry about the weather, but I understand that they had a very good and useful meeting anyhow. The secretary has briefed me thoroughly on the constructive meeting that she had with Foreign Minister Ivanov earlier today, and we had a very useful exchange of views on the Kosovo crisis. And I trust that this will also continue over the very, very late luncheon that we are supposed to have afterwards. We both agree that Russia has an important role to play in finding a solution to the Kosovo crisis, and I am encouraged that Foreign Minister Ivanov also has expressed Russia's readiness to use its influence in Belgrade. That's why I think this meeting was an important step in the process. As you all know, NATO's foreign ministers met in Brussels yesterday and expressed a deep concern over the humanitarian disaster following the unacceptable actions by the regime in Belgrade. As I see it, yesterday's ministerial meeting confirmed that the alliance remains unified in its approach towards the Kosovo crisis. We agree on the necessity to sustain the military pressure in order to arrive at the earliest possible solution. At the same time, we must continue and invigorate our efforts to find a political solution. The United Nations should play an important role in facilitating this, and I thus welcome the statement made by Secretary General Kofi Annan last week. Secretary Albright and myself, we discussed today some ideas on how to move this process forward. The OSCE, the Organization on Security & Cooperation in Europe, will continue its active involvement in the region and stands ready, as I told the secretary, to contribute to finding and implementing a political settlement. Madam Secretary. SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Yes, thank you very much, Foreign Minister Vollebaek, for your welcome today, for the weather, for all that Norway does, big and small, to further the cause of peace. Norway's contributions to conflict resolution are legion, from the Middle East and Central America to United Nations peacekeeping operations around the globe. The United States and Norway are firm friends, close NATO allies and strong partners for peace, democracy and development. And we look forward to welcoming Norway's leadership to the Washington summit next week. As Foreign Minister Vollebaek and I reaffirmed with our NATO colleagues yesterday, we are partners in a critical enterprise, defending the people of Kosovo and the ideals and interests of NATO against the depredations of the Belgrade authorities. Norway is playing a significant role in NATO military operations, and Norway is maintaining its tradition of generosity to those in need by sending assistance to the frontline states and by accepting 6,000 Kosovar refugees, surely one of the highest numbers per capita of any nation outside Southeast Europe. And as OSCE's chairman in office, Foreign Minister Vollebaek has provided crucial leadership for peace. Norway led in setting up the Kosovo verification mission last fall and played a key role in its operation. Although the mission has been withdrawn from Kosovo, Norway has ably maintained the mission's presence in the region, where it is playing an important role in caring for refugees. When we do reach a settlement of the conflict, the Kosovo mission will play an indispensable role in relief, reconstruction, democratization and support for human rights. And I'm sure that Norway will stand ready to take the lead once again. Today the foreign minister and I have discussed and will continue to discuss the way ahead. NATO's determination is clear. We will stay the course until our terms are met. We will continue to look for ways to assist refugees in and outside Kosovo. And we will seek to ensure that those who commit war crimes and crimes against humanity are held accountable. Russian Foreign Minister Ivanov and I held extensive talks this morning, and I believe we were able to narrow our differences and bring Russia closer to the mainstream of international opinion. Clearly this would be of benefit to all, and we will continue to look for ways to cooperate. As I mentioned, the United States and Norway are partners in many other places around the world, and I'm sure we will continue to discuss some of those as well. And all of them will have one common thread: America's very great pleasure in sharing the burden with allies as strong and committed as Norway. So, Mr. Foreign Minister, thank you very much for your leadership and your hospitality. And I think we should continue to rack up all those telephone calls we make to each other every day or every other day. Thank you. MINISTER VOLLEBAEK: Thank you. MODERATOR: We'll take some questions. Could you please identify yourselves? Q: My name is -- (inaudible) -- from the Norwegian newspaper -- (inaudible). There's been some reports today that Serb forces have entered Albanian territory and there's been some fighting inside of Albania today. What would be the NATO response, and what is the U.S. response to that? SEC. ALBRIGHT: First of all, we have not been able to confirm that, so I can't comment specifically on the incident that you're talking about. But we have made clear within NATO as well as the United States specifically that the widening of this conflict by the SerbFs to the other countries in the region would have serious consequences. Q: Richard Roth, CNN. Hello, Madam Secretary. I was going to ask thatquestion. Let me ask also, was there any discussion with the foreign minister of Russia regarding that surveillance vessel? And was there any discussion of the subject in any manner or form of ground troops, even in a hypothetical discussion, his response, what the U.S. view would be? SEC. ALBRIGHT: Well, first of all, we have discussed the issue of the vessel many times, and the Russians do know our views on that. We did not discuss ground troops as such. We did talk, obviously, as I said, in my press conference with Foreign Minister Ivanov, generally the character of an international presence in a permissive EenvironmentF. Q: Mrs. Secretary, is the U.S. willing to accept an international force in Kosovo under the auspices of the U.N. or the OSCE? SEC. ALBRIGHT: What we have said is that in order for the force to be effective and one that we could support, it has to have a NATO core and it has to be able to, so that the NATO command structure can operate to the satisfaction of the military leaders. We have also said that such a core NATO force could have other forces associated with it in a variety of ways that can be discussed, including, obviously, some component in cooperation with OSCE. But these questions are obviously open to discussion. But from our perspective, a core NATO aspect to it is essential, because that is the only way that we would be able to participate, if the NATO command structure were able to operate as it must for military purposes. Q: (Inaudible) -- from Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. You said that NATO must stay its course until its terms are met. Where does that lead to -- (inaudible) -- from the Russian side or negotiations for a settlement of the attack on Kosovo? SEC. ALBRIGHT: Well, we have made clear yesterday in the NATO declaration what are the aspects, what it is that President Milosevic says that he has to do. And there are five points to that. I will not read them to you again. But basically, Milosevic knows what he has to do. I think that this is a NATO document, and so the Russians do not agree with the formulation of a NATO document. But as I said in my earlier press conference, there were a number of principles that are identical to these in terms of stopping the fighting and repression, the necessity to withdraw from Kosovo, the military police and paramilitary forces, the need for the safe return of all refugees, the fact that the humanitarian agencies need to have access. So there was a great deal of similarity in those views. But I think that we made very clear what it is that NATO is -- as it says, what NATO knows what President Milosevic must do. So we have made that very clear. That is what staying the course means. (End of available audio.) |
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