Dini Dismisses Rubin's Account of Kosovo Talks (Reuters, Oct 3, 2000)

[Paola Lucchesi <paola.lucchesi@mail.inet.it>]

>http://www.centraleurope.com/yugoslaviatoday/news.php3?id=205533&section=defaul
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>Dini Dismisses Rubin's Account of Kosovo Talks
>
>LONDON, Oct 3, 2000 -- (Reuters) Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini
>said on Monday he was "flabbergasted" by an account of the Rambouillet
>talks on Kosovo by former U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin,
>saying parts were "utterly untrue".
>     In a letter to the Financial Times, Dini rejected Rubin's
>contention that Italy had favored the position of Belgrade.
>     In a memoir of the February 1999 negotiations published in the
>newspaper last Saturday, Rubin gave his version of the talks near Paris
>that tried to find a diplomatic solution to the Kosovo crisis before the
>NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
>     Rubin said Italy collaborated with the Serbs "to end the conference
>on Belgrade's terms" and that at the time he was "stunned to find that
>Italy would carry water for (Yugoslav President Slobodan) Milosevic so
>blatantly".
>     In his letter published on Monday, Dini said: "I was flabbergasted
>to read the misrepresentations and utterly untrue recollections by James
>P. Rubin in his article on the Rambouillet negotiations over Kosovo, and
>I am seeking to clarify several points to put the record straight.
>     "Contrary to what Mr. Rubin alleges, the Italian delegation and I
>personally did not seek to favor Belgrade's position.
>     "The truth is that we set out to convince both parties - the
>Kosovars and the Serbs - openly and frankly, to accept the position
>worked out by the Contact Group."
>     Dini added: "Events were therefore different from the way Mr. Rubin
>has described them."
>     Rubin said that during the conference the Italian foreign minister
>was "sharing document drafts" with Serbia's then president, Milan
>Milutinovic.
>     Dini said the meeting with Milutinovic was in fact an unsuccessful
>attempt to persuade him to accept the presence of NATO forces in Kosovo.
>
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