Serb Says NATO Attack Would Be 'Insane'

A senior government minister, describing NATO threats to attack Serbia as "insane," has said talks this week between Yugoslav and Russian leaders will "contribute to the final solution of the Kosovo problem."

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Nikolic told Palma-Plus television he expected full Russian support in ending the separatist crisis in Serbia's southern province.

A relative lull in fighting appeared to be in force in Kosovo yesterday. But Serbian media reports said a Serbian policeman was shot dead by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) near Djakovica. Albanian sources accused the Serbs of attacking villages around Decani, near the Albanian border. Western reporters said there were dozens of Yugoslav Army vehicles including antiaircraft missile carriers in the border regions and spoke to KLA units in the area.

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has not reacted publicly to demands that he withdraw the police from Kosovo and start serious negotiations with Kosovo Albanian leaders on autonomy for the province.