WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton is asking Congress to approve an additional $6 billion in "emergency" spending to pay for the U.S. portion of NATO's air war against Yugoslavia and for humanitarian assistance and relief.

In remarks on Monday, Clinton said the money is needed to:

"Ensure that we have the resources to sustain the air campaign until we achieve our goals, while maintaining our high level of general military readiness."

"Provide critical humanitarian assistance and relief to the hundreds of thousands of (Kosovo) refugees."

"Provide resources for nations in the region -- the neighbors of Kosovo -- who have suffered so much from the effects of this conflict." Clinton specifically cited the "enormous burden" the refugee exodus is placing on Albania.

While Clinton did not cite a figure, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said it would be roughly $6 billion. Congressional sources said they expected the request to include $5.45 billion for the Pentagon and about $491 million in humanitarian aid.

Some congressional estimates say the figure could rise to $8 billion.

The president said he hopes Congress will approve the additional funding "right away."

Lockhart said the proposal would maintain the air campaign at "peak efficiency" through the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30.

Because the funding would be on an "emergency" basis, it would not require cutbacks, or offsets, in government spending.

Dialogue with Moscow

Earlier, Clinton spoke for 45 minutes by telephone with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who has been critical of the NATO campaign.

Clinton initiated the call, which White House officials described as a "chance to keep the dialogue going" with Moscow during a search for a solution to the crisis.

U.S. sources described the conversation as constructive and positive but absent of any significant breakthroughs.

A senior White House official who is familiar with the call said Yeltsin reaffirmed that Moscow would not get involved militarily in the Kosovo conflict -- and U.S. sources say the administration has been assured Russia will not follow through on talk of sending warships into the Adriatic Sea.

The official said Yeltsin said NATO should stop the strikes -- and that Russia would then press Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his troops from Kosovo, allow the refugees to return and accept an international security force.

But Clinton restated the U.S. view that the strikes will not stop until Milosevic accepts NATO's terms.

The U.S. official said Yeltsin was "very engaged," and that he and Clinton promised to keep in close contact. This official described the call as "a very good constructive conversation," and said it was the view of U.S. officials that "the Russians are trying to be constructive."

Correspondents Wolf Blitzer and John King contributed to this report.

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RELATED SITES:

Extensive list of Kosovo-related sites
  • Kosovo

Yugoslavia:
  • Federal Republic of Yugoslavia official site
      • Kesovo and Metohija facts
  • Serbia Ministry of Information
  • Serbia Now! News

Kosovo:
  • Kosova Crisis Center
  • Kosova Liberation Peace Movement
  • Kosovo - from Albanian.com

Military:
  • NATO official site
  • BosniaLINK - U.S. Dept. of Defense
  • U.S. Navy images from Operation Allied Force
  • U.K. Ministry of Defence - Kosovo news
  • U.K. Royal Air Force - Kosovo news
  • Jane's Defence - Kosovo Crisis

Relief:
  • Kosovar doctor helps refugees one at a time
  • Mercy International USA
  • Donations for Kosovo Refugees
  • International Rescue Committee
  • Unicef USA
  • Doctors Without Borders
  • World Vision
  • CARE: The Kosovo Crisis
  • InterAction
  • International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
  • International Committee of the Red Cross
  • Disaster Relief from DisasterRelief.org
  • Catholic Relief Services
  • Kosovo Relief
  • ReliefWeb: Home page

Media:
  • Independent Yugoslav radio stations B92
  • Institute for War and Peace Reporting
  • United States Information Agency - Kosovo Crisis

Other:
  • Prayers for peace

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