Administration officials have tried strenuously in recent days to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to use his influence to make Milosevic accept his loss to opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica in last month's election. Putin also has offered his services as a mediator, inviting Milosevic and Kostunica to Moscow for talks that neither seems interested in pursuing. By the end of the day, they had all but ruled out that option. Officials explained that Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright already had her hands full as she tried to broker an end to Middle East violence during talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Paris.
Western governments regard Russia as critical to any solution in the Balkans.
Having already offered to lift sanctions against Serbia if Milosevic steps down, and with few cards left to play, U.S. officials have been hoping for a repeat of Russia's earlier performance as they try to end the standoff over last month's presidential election. On Saturday, President Clinton spoke by telephone with Putin for 35 minutes in an effort to enlist his help in persuading Milosevic to step down. But the dialogue has yet to produce results. One indication of that came during an exchange between Vice President Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush during Tuesday night's presidential campaign debate. I think that's the wrong thing.