Putin Doubts NATO Mission Will Bring Macedonia Stability

Hundreds of NATO soldiers poured into this troubled Balkan country Thursday on a mission to disarm ethnic Albanian rebels, even as Russian President Vladimir V. Putin said he had “great doubts” that the effort will bring stability to Macedonia.

“Strictly speaking, to seize the arms is not the main task,” Putin said during a visit to Kiev for Ukrainian independence celebrations. “The main task is to create conditions in which peace comes to this land.”

Later Thursday, Putin was expected to meet his Macedonian counterpart, Boris Trajkovski, who was also in Kiev for the celebrations.

Russia fiercely opposed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 to stop Belgrade’s aggression against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, a province of Serbia, the main Yugoslav republic. But Russia sent troops to Kosovo as peacekeepers after the bombing ended.

Even as Putin was voicing skepticism, planes carrying hundreds of soldiers from Britain, Italy and the Netherlands descended upon the single runway at the airport in Skopje, the Macedonian capital.

Looking fresh-faced and eager, the troops stepped from their planes and into temperatures hitting 104 degrees. Relaxed and confident, soldiers such as Adrian Brooks of the Royal Engineers of Britain’s 16th Air Assault Brigade appeared to consider the mission no big deal.

“A lot of the guys have been here in the Balkans before,” he said. “Those that haven’t been here have got a lot of experienced guys around who can show them the ropes.”

NATO approved the deployment--its third Balkan venture in six years--on Wednesday in a bid to bring an end to six months of fighting between ethnic Albanians and ethnic Macedonians. Macedonia’s political parties signed a peace accord last week, and though ethnic Albanian rebels didn’t sign, they have agreed separately with NATO to disarm.

Troops could begin picking up rebel weapons at collection sites scattered throughout rugged mountain territory as early as next week.

On Thursday, the German Cabinet approved a proposal to send soldiers to Macedonia to join the 3,500-member British-led mission, but the action faces a tough fight in Parliament. Dissenting lawmakers worry that German troops could get caught in a quagmire if the mission is extended beyond the 30 days designated for weapons collection.