Previously, Ryzkhov chaired a commission for Yugoslavia in the State Duma, or the lower Russian parliamentary house. It was in this capacity that he visited the country in the wake of NATO's 1999 military campaign. Addressing the Hague Tribunal panel today, the Russian MP said that while visiting Belgrade, Novy Sad and other Yugoslav cities, he had seen many civil facilities destroyed by NATO air strikes, but not a single military site in ruins. He said he did not believe that NATO's Balkan campaign had anything to do with the protection of the Kosovar Albanians.
Replying to questions from Milosevic, who acts as his own defense lawyer, Ryzhkov said that in the 1990s, he had met with the man and his associates on more than one occasion, but that he had never heard any of them mention the idea of creating a Great Serbia, something the ex-President and his inner circle are accused of. But he did hear Albanian nationalists speak about their ambitions to build a Great Albania, he said.
According to Ryzhkov, the former Yugoslav leader always insisted on diplomatic solutions while some of his associates would be pushing for a tougher line.
As NATO began its air strikes in Yugoslavia, the country's military command issued an order against any unlawful actions in the army, including violence against civilians and looting, Ryzhkov said. According to him, all Yugoslav officers and men guilty of such offenses were put on trial.
Ryzhkov told the Hague Tribunal that conversations with Radovan Karadzic had made him conclude the Bosnian Serb leader was skeptical about Milosevic's proposals on a peaceful settlement and that he and his men would not obey orders from Belgrade.
Ryzhkov also said that according to intelligence information held by the State Duma and some federal government agencies, Albanian terrorists had been financed with money made through the illegal sale of Afghan drugs.
The Duma Commission for Yugoslavia also found out that weapons for the Kosovo Liberation Army had been coming in from Germany and a number of other European countries, Ryzhkov said. According to him, it was NATO forces that brought large-scale terrorism and a humanitarian disaster to Yugoslavia: thousands of civilians were killed and thousands went missing; hundreds of churches, monasteries, and other buildings of cultural and historical value were razed to the ground.
