The UN secretary general Koffi Anan who is in Madrid yesterday stated that he was ready to meet with the Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, in order to start a new peace initiative. The American secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who will meet in Oslo today with her Russian counterpart Igor Ivanof, yesterday said that a formula should be found so that Russia may participate in the process for finding a solution to the Kosovo crisis. German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has claimed that the Russian troops could join the Nato forces and form a force that will maintain peace in Kosovo when the war ends, as it happened in the neighboring Bosnia. The parliaments of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have approved the country's accession to the Russia-Bellorussia Confederation and Moscow welcomed the decision. After a meeting at the White House with the American president Bill Clinton yesterday, the leadership of the American congress officially expressed its support to the military operations against Yugoslavia.
Different views prevail within the Italian government as regards the war in Yugoslavia.
Four different views have been expressed on the Kosovo crisis mainly by D'Alema, Dini, Sconiamilio and Kosuta - the greatest divergence being between the prime minister and the foreign minister. The Italian public opinion however, is mostly against the war, as shown by the participation of a great number of Italian citizens in protest demonstrations. The Coalition of the Left Wing and Progress, the Democratic Social Movement and the Political Spring Party said that appeals for peace were neither sincere nor credible, for as long as the Nato raids against civilians continued. The new executive office of Pasok will hold a session today, while the Greek prime minister Kostas Simitis will visit Brussels tomorrow and afterwards Sofia and Tirana. The Pasok executive office is expected to prepare the meeting of the party's central committee due on Saturday on the object of the ruling party's policy in view of the forthcoming Euroelections.