Cohen  MILITARY PLAN: RELATED VIDEO CNN's Mike Boettcher reports on the destruction and death in a small village in Kosovo. (June 16) Windows Media 28K 80K At the Macedonia border, CNN's Matthew Chance says Kosovars are being allowed to return to their homes before roads have been secured and aid plans put in place (June 15) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K 'Catastrophe': Refugees tell CNN's Jeff Flock what they've found upon their return. (June 15) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Use the arrow buttons below to select the latest streams on the Kosovo situation.        Windows Media Real        28 K 80 K  INTERACTIVE KFOR enters Kosovo NATO rolls into Kosovo  ALSO: More U.S. troops enter Kosovo Ethnic tidal waves rush in and out of Kosovo  MESSAGE BOARD: Crisis in Kosovo  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Focus on Kosovo

June 16, 1999
Web posted at: 10:59 a.m. EDT (1459 GMT)

In this story: Cohen: Yeltsin appears in control RELATED STORIES, SITES

HELSINKI, Finland (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen arrived in the Finnish capital Wednesday, hoping that Russia can be brought into the Kosovo peacekeeping mission within NATO's requirements.

Cohen's Helsinki visit is a bid to resolve the impasse brought on by Russia's takeover of the Pristina airport that NATO troops planned to use as its initial headquarters.

He will meet with his Russian counterpart, Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev, and with Finnish President Marti Ahtisaari -- one of the mediators who worked out the Kosovo peace agreement. Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin worked alongside Ahtisaari on the plan.

Cohen said he was "eager and pleased" to be sitting down face to face with Sergeyev, whom he talked briefly by phone before leaving Washington on Tuesday night.

Cohen again downplayed the significance of the 200 Russian troops holding the airport, insisting they were not an impediment to the NATO operation. He attributed their surprise deployment to vague orders Russian President Boris Yeltsin gave the military to "take what action they thought was appropriate to be a part of KFOR."

Russian troops arrived unexpectedly ahead of NATO forces early Saturday and have denied NATO access until a deal is worked out to incorporate Russia into the peacekeeping mission. The small force was resupplied by a convoy of vehicles from the Russian base in Bosnia on Wednesday.

Cohen said the NATO countries that lead KFOR, the Kosovo peacekeeping mission, want to integrate the Russians into the international force. But he repeated NATO's insistence that Russia should not have its own sector within the Serbian province. Russia is not a NATO member.

"We made it very clear there cannot be a separate sector for Russia. So we are trying to find ways in which we can meet their needs, but not in any way violate the fundamental rules that NATO has to insist upon," he said.

U.S. officials traveling with President Bill Clinton say an agreement could be worked out during the Helsinki talks. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will join those talks Thursday.

U.S. officials told CNN that Russian military leaders in Kosovo appear close to accepting an arrangement with NATO's KFOR commander, British Lt. Gen. Mike Jackson.

But the officials warned that several critical details must still be worked out, including how many Russian troops will participate in the force, in which sector they will be located and to whom they will report.

Cohen said Yeltsin appears in control, and that the insertion of Russian troops into Kosovo reflects Russia's eagerness to participate in KFOR.

Cohen said the United States, negotiating on behalf of NATO, would be "as creative as we can, while still adhering to the basic principles of the unified command."

Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and Senior White House Correspondent Wolf Blitzer contributed to this report.

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