Russian Unit Sets Up Kosovo Base

KOSOVSKA KAMENICA, Yugoslavia — Russian troops deployed for the first time as part of the Kosovo peace force Saturday to cheers from Serbs, jeers from Albanians and a shooting incident to underscore the tension in the province.

A unit of Russian paratroopers drove into a heavily damaged cement factory on the outskirts of the town of Kosovska Kamenica to take over from U.S. soldiers who had been using the building.

“If this facility was good enough for the Marines, it is good enough for us,” said Russian Lt. Col. Alexander Markov, surveying the damaged factory.

Saturday’s arrivals included 86 soldiers and three armored personnel carriers, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency said. It said they would prepare for the arrival of the 13th Pskov paratrooper battalion.

It was the first deployment by the Russians outside the Pristina airport, which they took over last month in a lightning push before NATO troops moved into Kosovo--a province of Yugoslavia’s main republic, Serbia--after the alliance’s 11-week bombardment of the country.

The Russian presence was agreed to in talks between NATO and Moscow that ended a standoff over how and where they would operate.

Local Serbs enthusiastically welcomed the arrival of the Russians. Some ethnic Albanians who saw the Russian column on the road gave a friendly wave, but others jeered, viewing the Serbs’ traditional allies with deep-seated distrust.

But Markov, the commander of the Russian contingent, sought to allay the fears of ethnic Albanians.

“We’re only here to do the job of peacekeepers, to give support and to help Serbs and Albanians. We do not make any difference between them,” he said.

The simmering tension the Russians face in Kosovo was highlighted when a Serbian man was shot and seriously wounded in his home close to the base shortly before the paratroops’ arrival.

U.S. forces investigated the shooting on behalf of the Russians, who said they would need one or two days to become operational.

Dragoljub Arsic, 28, had a fresh gunshot wound in the stomach and was lying bandaged on a couch in his family home.

Members of his family said he was wounded when suspected Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas, who are due to be disarmed under the NATO-enforced peace accord, attempted to kidnap Arsic’s aunt when she went out to feed the pigs. Family members said they fired warning shots to scare away the attackers, who they said were armed with rifles and pistols.

“No matter what happens, I am going to stay here,” Arsic said. “We are real Serbs and we will stay here.”