London, February 15 (Tanjug) - According to numerous western analysts, the US project of the Trans-Balkan pipeline running from the Caspian sea to the Albanian port of Vlore, is the main cause of the tragic crisis in the former Yugoslavia and the US intervention in Kosovo and Metohija, the London Guardian writes today.

All past doubts have been rejected, and the western press did not pay attention to that, the paper reminds, stressing that it becomes more clear that this US economic interest is the leading motive of creating the crisis in the former Yugoslavia.

The London paper points to freelance researches of Keith Fisher and the US Trade and Development Agency's paper published last May, which assesses that the pipeline is a US strategic interest.

According to the paper, the pipeline will provide oil and gas to the US market worth $600m a month, adding that the pipeline is necessary because the oil coming from the Caspian sea will quickly surpass the safe capacity of the Bosphorus.

In 1998, Bill Richardson, then US energy secretary, said that the pipeline would make all countries from the Caspian to the Balkans politically and economically reliant on the West, which is also a strategic goal.

It is obvious, The Guardian writes, that the former Yugoslavia, especially Serbia, was a serious problem for the realization of the plan. The intervention in Kosovo and Metohija was carried out in order to please Albania, whose port of Vlore is the ultimate destination of the pipeline.

The project of the Trans-Balkan pipeline was made in early 90-s, and it is due for approval next month, the paper writes.