They may later travel to Germany to meet with Western officials. Russia strongly opposes NATO airstrikes, which are aimed at forcing Milosevic to sign a peace agreement ending the offensive against ethnic Albanians in Serbia's Kosovo province. The Russian Information Agency Novosti provided excerpts of the speech. Russia holds the key Despite tough talk on the airstrikes, Russia has made few policy changes to express displeasure. The country has suspended contact with NATO, but says it hopes the disagreement does not do permanent damage to its relationship with the United States.
French leaders say Russia, a traditional Serb ally, holds the key to solving the Kosovo crisis.
Italy also welcomed the Russian initiative. U.S. officials reacted skeptically, but said they are not interested in any new negotiating forum. The only solution, the Americans say, is for Milosevic to sign the peace deal brokered earlier this month by the six-nation Contact Group on the Balkans. In addition to Russia, the United States, Great Britain, Italy, France and Germany make up the Contact Group. Russian TV shows a gunman opening fire on the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on Sunday Police seek embassy gunman Anti-bombing protests have sprung up all over the world, as well as inside Yugoslavia.