As NATO positioned itself Monday for airstrikes on Yugoslavia, U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke left for Brussels to brief NATO amid reports of progress toward a deal to avert military action over Kosovo.
Russian Defense Minister Igor Ser-ge-yev told reporters in Moscow that Yugoslav President Slobodan Mi-lo-se-vic has agreed to allow deployment of 1,500 observers in the embattled Serb province - a move that would be a key concession by Yugoslavia.There was no confirmation, but a statement from Milosevic's office said Holbrooke would return to Belgrade and hold more talks on Tuesday.
It said Milosevic "has concluded that undoubtably, necessary conditions exist for a peaceful, political solution to the Kosovo problem."
After meeting with Milosevic, Holbrooke left to brief ambassadors of the 16-member NATO on the results of his talks, a U.S. source said.
The major obstacle in talks had appeared to be Holbrooke's request that Milosevic agree to an expanded international monitoring mission in Kosovo to verify compliance with demands of the U.N. Security Council.
Other Security Council demands include an immediate cease-fire, a withdrawal of special troops from Kosovo, allowing refugees to return home and beginning talks with independence-minded ethnic Albanians on Kosovo's future.
The Americans and Europeans want Milosevic to halt the crackdown he launched Feb. 28 against the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army. Ko-so-vo, where 90 percent of the population is ethnic Albanian, is a Serbian province in southern Yugoslavia.
Milosevic's crackdown on the KLA has killed hundreds and forced at least 270,000 ethnic Albanians to flee their homes.
Should the talks between Hol-brooke and Milosevic fail, officials in Brussels were expected to vote on an "activation order" - the last military step before any NATO military strike can be launched.
The NATO order would transfer command over the airplanes and other military hardware needed for an airstrike from member countries to Supreme Allied Cmdr. Wesley K. Clark and authorize the deployment over Yugoslavia.
Clark could then, in consultation with NATO Secretary General Javier Solana, order planes and missiles launched.
Italy on Monday authorized the use of its military bases for any NATO raid, while the German government said it intends to allow German warplanes to participate in any attack. French Defense Minister Alain Richard said his country would provide about 40 aircraft for possible airstrikes.
The foreign presence in Kosovo was being reduced in anticipation of NATO action.
Most of an international diplomats' mission observing events in Kosovo left for neighboring Macedonia before midday. Sources at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade said all but 12 foreign staff were being evacuated to Budapest.
A State Department advisory urged Americans to leave Yugoslavia, and the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo asked U.S. citizens in the Serb part of neighboring Bosnia to evacuate.
The German and British embassies in Belgrade also were closed.
NATO authorities met with Russian representatives at NATO headquarters in Brussels to keep Moscow informed on the military preparations.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has repeated his country's opposition to any NATO strike but said a military response by Moscow to such an attack was "out of the question."
U.S. spy satellites have captured images of Yugoslav warplanes dispersing to caves, bunkers or even fields to avoid destruction by NATO forces, said administration officials, insisting on anonymity.
Only a fraction of Yugoslavia's force of 65 MiG-21s and 15 highly capable MiG-29s remains at air bases, and those planes no longer are parked in close formation where they could be quickly decimated by NATO air power.
Top-priority targets would include Yugoslav air defenses, military command centers, key roads and bridges, air bases and military aircraft.
Yugoslavia has a formidable air defense system left over from the Cold War, including 1,850 antiaircraft guns, and an array of Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles capable of posing a multilayered defense.
"You cannot discount the possibility of American casualties," said military analyst Kenneth Allard.