Deterioration of the relations between Bonn and Belgrade

Bonn, 10 September (ARTA) 2100CET --

The "Yugoslav" Embassy addressed a note of protest (which seem to be extraordinarily harsh) to the German Foreign Ministry.

The German Defense Minister, Volker Ruehe, as well as the German journalists and correspondents from Balkan were the target of the note.

According to Belgrade, the German journalists and correspondents, "are not informing objectively about the situation in Kosova".

The protest was especially directed to the statements made by Ruehe, who stated that "A NATO intervention could be expected within a couple of weeks, if Belgrade continues to massacre and destroy the civilian population".

In regard to the German media, in the note they are defined as "nests of Albanian separatists, as they were for Lubljana, Zagreb and Sarajevo".

The German Government rejected the accusations of Belgrade, evaluating them as irresponsible and out of line. In a long comment of the state information agency, DPA, (close to the German Government) among others, it is stated: "Germany has been accused for years by the `ultracommunists' of Mira Markovic and the `ultrafascist` Vojislav Seselj".

On this occasion, DPA recalls the "importance of the disruption of the economic relations between Bonn and Belgrade" asking "whether the Belgrade would be able to function without the German currency".