Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov

"I think, and we all think, that it is enough to begin a process," Prime Minister Primakov said in a talk with Russian journalists, in which Russian Defense and Foreign Ministers Igor Sergeyev and Igor Ivanov, respectively, also participated.

Primakov especially stressed that "the situation in Kosovo and Metohija cannot be resolved by attacks on Yugoslavia."

The Russian Prime Minister set out that the results of his visits to Belgrade and Bonn were not unexpected for the Russian delegation and that they absolutely did not discourage Moscow in its efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Kosovo and Metohija issue.

"We will continue to search for a solution along a line which we feel contributes to shifting the resolution of the crisis to a political track," Primakov said in conclusion.

Foreign Minister Ivanov underscored that the Bonn talks had shown that the Germans, themselves, concede that the situation has become even more serious for the West itself, after NATO aggression on Yugoslavia.

"Gradual steps are needed. NATO strategists have tried rashly to resolve the situation and have only further strained the problem and made it even more difficult," Ivanov said.

He reiterated that it had to be realized that gradual steps were necessary to resolve the Kosovo and Metohija issue, and said that "the first such important step was taken today, as a result of the talks in Belgrade."

"It is the beginning of a process for the resolution [of the problem], a beginning of the renouncing of the use of force and a return to the peace process," the Russian Foreign Minister stressed.