The former Russian prime minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin -- who was appointed by President Yeltsin to deal directly with President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia -- says he's given up being Mr Yeltsin's special envoy to Belgrade.

Speaking after meeting Mr Yeltsin in Moscow, Mr Chernomyrdin said Russia had succeeded in its role as a mediator and had prevented a wider Balkan war, and he had ended his role as soon as the NATO bombing stopped.

But he said Russia had still to participate in reconstruction efforts.

The Russian Interior Ministry has meanwhile announced it's sent one-hundred special police to Kosovo to join Russian troops already there.