USA Attaches Political Strings To Economic Assistance To Yugoslavia

President of Yugoslavia Vojislav Kostunica who is staying in Washington on a visit called on the George Bush administration to make "an injection of economic adrenaline" to Yugoslavia but not to link financial assistance with political conditions. Kostunica stated this in the speech he made at the conservative Cato institute of political science in Washington. He stressed, in particular, that, in his opinion, a trial of Slobodan Milosevic should be held in Yugoslavia where Yugoslav citizens suffered from his regime. "Justice must be in their hands but not in the hands of foreigners", Kostunica stated. On Wednesday the Yugoslav leader met US Vice-President Richard Cheney in the White House, and US President George Bush participated in this meeting for ten minutes. As deputy press secretary of the White House Mary Ellen Countryman told journalists later, in the conversation with the Yugoslav leader Bush clearly gave it to understand that Milosevic "must face justice for his international crimes" and that a possibility for the USA to render financial aid to Yugoslavia depends on Belgrade's relations with the Hague international tribunal. Kostunica also had a meeting at the Department of State with US Secretary of State Colin Powell who said after it that the talk had been "frank" and also concerned prospects for cooperation of Yugoslavia with the tribunal. In a conversation with journalists Kostunica confirmed that he deems it to be his "obligation" to achieve adoption in Yugoslavia of a law which will set a legal framework of the country's relations with the Hague tribunal. Such a law "will resolve all the problems", he emphasized and added that he had an impression of the USA's readiness to give economic assistance to Yugoslavia.