Letter: Caring for Kosovo

Sir: I was born in Russia, but for more than a decade now I have taken great pride in calling Britain - the cradle of modern European democracy and a country with a well deserved reputation for tolerance and fairness - my home. It saddens me deeply to see your government's unquestioning support for the self-righteous and unceremonious foreign policy of the USA under Bill Clinton.

Since the beginning of the Kosovo conflict, Nato, led by the US, has been bending over backwards to pick a fight with Serbia by repeatedly presenting her with "solutions" on deliberately unacceptable terms.

Of all the pro-Albanian factions in Kosovo, Nato chose to support the ultra-nationalist KLA, which in only 18 months of open existence has, according to Human Rights Watch, committed an impressive string of human rights violations and come under investigation for heroin trafficking.

None of this has in any way eased the plight of Kosovar Albanians at large. Thus far, Nato actions have only inflamed an already raging conflict.

A refugee crisis has arrived with unnerving predictability, but there is still no coherent effort to deal with it. We are led to believe that making even the most basic provisions in advance would have aided President Milosevic in his evil quest.

It appears that Nato cares no more for the Albanians it is supposedly protecting than it does for the Serbs it is attacking. This "peace-enforcement mission" bears an uncanny resemblance to the "brotherly assistance" offered by the late USSR to Afghanistan.

PAVEL GOUDOCHNIKOV

Southampton