Kostunica Disputes CBS Broadcast

By Katarina Kratovac
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000; 5:02 p.m. EDT

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's
office on Thursday disputed a CBS News broadcast that quoted him as
acknowledging atrocities committed in Kosovo under the government of his
predecessor, Slobodan Milosevic.

The statement released by Kostunica's office, addressed to the president of
CBS News, said the segment aired Tuesday on "60 Minutes II" was
"unprofessional and unethical."

Kostunica was quoted in the broadcast as saying: "I am ready to ... accept
the guilt for all those people who have been killed. ... For what Milosevic
had done, and as a Serb, I will take responsibility for many of these, these
crimes."

The interview, which was reported by The Associated Press, was
considered the first time a Yugoslav leader publicly acknowledged that
Yugoslav forces committed widespread killings in Kosovo last year.
Milosevic, who was forced from office this month, never admitted
wrongdoing in Kosovo or former Yugoslav republics where he helped
instigate armed conflicts.

Kostunica's office, in a statement translated by the AP, said the journalists
conducting the interview taped about 100 minutes of conversation with him,
but broadcast "only a few minutes" of his answer to a single question, "and
even that was taken completely out of context."

The president's office specifically protested excerpts of the interview
released on the CBS Web site a day before the broadcast.

That contained "a series of untruths and words which President Kostunica
did not use," his office said. Given the huge amount of publicity the CBS
broadcast received in other media, it "could have inflicted much political
damage to the president and the forces leading the democratization in
Yugoslavia," the statement said.

Government officials refused to elaborate Thursday about the "untrue
words." Cabinet Chief Ljiljana Nedeljkovic, who released the statement,
was unavailable for comment Thursday. Her office said she was in a
meeting with Kostunica.

Kostunica, considered a nationalist in his own right, came to power accusing
Milosevic of ruinous policies that harmed many nations in the region,
including Serbs.

CBS News correspondent Scott Pelley, who conducted the interview, said
the story was edited to concentrate on the two subjects of most interest to
international viewers: whether Kostunica would move against Milosevic and
whether he acknowledged war crimes.

"He was very evasive, particularly on the Milosevic question," Pelley said.
"We had to go back to him again and again and again to get a straight
answer."

CBS had quoted Kostunica as saying that "those are the crimes and the
people that have been killed are victims," and "there are a lot of crimes on
the other side, and the Serbs have been killed."

Pelley said he believed the interview, as aired, was "absolutely fair." And he
said he wasn't surprised by Kostunica's statement criticizing CBS.

"He is trying to stabilize a government with enemies conspiring all around
him," he said. "When he took the courageous steps to be frank in our
interview, I think he knew that telling the truth was going to cause trouble
for him."

Kostunica's office said Thursday it felt "compelled to demand an
explanation regarding the unprofessional and unethical behavior of your
company in connection with the interview."

© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press