BRUSSELS, June 13. (from Olga Semyonova, a RIA Novosti correspondent) – All Russian peacekeepers will be withdrawn from the Balkans by August 1, 2003, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov told journalists in Brussels.
“The last Russian peacekeepers will be withdrawn from Bosnia and Herzegovina in several days,” the minister said, “thus de facto terminating the withdrawal of our peacemaking contingent from that country.” According to Ivanov, “the withdrawal schedule of Russian peacekeepers from Kosovo is tough”. The minister believes the Russian soldiers will be able to keep to the schedule and thus the withdrawal will be completed by August 1, 2003.
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Bit of a shame really because I’m sure the peacekeeping experience and the contact with foreign armies was beneficial for the Russian Army.
By: ink - 15th June 2003 at 16:22
I stand corrected.
Is nobody here able to provide pictures of Russian KFOR troops and equipment?
Shocking!!
By: Arabella-Cox - 15th June 2003 at 09:56
Alex is right… I remember being amused by the connection with the gloved wierdo.
Sorry, I haven’t got any pics of Russians in Kosovo… 🙁
I watch with interest to see if anyone else has some…
By: ink - 15th June 2003 at 00:59
Was it not General Sir Michael Rose? Is my memory failing me already?
By: alex - 14th June 2003 at 15:13
I believe it was General Sir Michael Jackson who was ordered to take the airfield by using Para’s of 2 Para to remove the Russians.
Basically he replied something along the lines of “I’m not starting World War Three over a bloody airfield!” and refused the order.
By: Arabella-Cox - 14th June 2003 at 01:43
I think I saw on a BBC documentaty called “Moral Combat” a British commander talking about the incident. He basically stated that he had asked his superiors what to do and the American above him basically stated that they were to take the airfield by force if necessary. He admitted that he disobeyed this order. He said something like we don’t want to create an international incident over it and that both NATO and the Russians will probably be working together afterwards in Kosovo so they might as well get along so he ordered his troops not to fire on Russian troops.
He was also asked by his troops if they were allowed to provide rations to the Russian troops as they had arrived in such a rush they were not properly supplied. He said he told his troops they should share their rations with the Russians for the reasons above. (ie they aren’t the enemy… lets not make then an enemy. They will probably be of great use in dealing with the serbs.)
By: ink - 14th June 2003 at 01:32
Viper,
I’m afraid that I’m in no position to offer anything useful on that incident other than, perhaps, my own opinions ;).
Guys,
This thread could be treated as a wonderful opportunity for you to off-load some of your Russian KFOR pics (partly as I haven’t got any good ones). So, feel free to post anything Russian with a KFOR sticker on it or anything Russian with an obvious Kosovo background.
Thanks in advance for the flood of excellen photography which I’m sure will follow this request.
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June 13, 2003 at 11:07 am