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WASHINGTON — After an exchange of diplomatic letters, the United States and Yugoslavia will re-establish a relationship that soured in the conflict over Kosovo: They will reopen their embassies in each other's capital within the next few days. In an interview Thursday with state radio in Belgrade, President Vojislav Kostunica said Yugoslavia was "returning to the world swiftly, its head high up, and with dignity."
He also said his government would focus its relations mostly on Europe and Russia, while also forging ties with "the most powerful country in the world - the United States," and others.
Earlier, the Yugoslav government announced it was ready to restore diplomatic relations with Germany, France and Britain as well.
More than a hint of discord remains. Kostunica has refused to send Slobodan Milosevic and a handful of the former president's loyalists to The Hague, Netherlands, for trial on war crimes charges.
Kostunica has said they should face justice in Yugoslavia. But Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic on Thursday said visas would be issued to tribunal personnel to reopen an office in Belgrade.
"I'm not aware that the new government has fully moved ahead on a number of matters," a State Department spokesman, Philip Reeker, said while welcoming Belgrade's invitation to renew ties that Milosevic suspended under bombardment by NATO warplanes last year.
The assault, led by the United States, forced Milosevic to withdraw Serb troops and special police from Kosovo, where they had been accused of repression of secession-minded ethnic Albanians, who comprise a majority in the province.
Kosovo's links to Serbia are based on strong cultural and religious ties.
"We hope to restore the strong ties that have historically characterized the relations between our two countries and peoples," Reeker said. "We expect to complete the procedures for doing so within the next few days," he said.
The Yugoslav embassy in Washington and the U.S. embassy in Belgrade will be open for consular services and staffs will be hired. Also, Reeker said, the United States was reviewing restrictions on travel here by former Yugoslav officials.
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The U.S. ambassador, William Montgomery, will exchange presidential letters and diplomatic notes with the Yugoslav foreign ministry in the next few days. And then, Montgomery said in Belgrade, the U.S. embassy would be "up and running."
Relations with Milosevic were virtually nonexistent toward the end of his 13-year rule. The Clinton administration did not disguise its hope that Kostunica would take the presidency from him in an election in September.
A legal scholar, the new president questions the independence of the war crimes tribunal, which has indicted Milosevic and other senior Serbian military and political officials.
The United States and its allies, meanwhile, have made no effort to arrest them.
The Clinton administration has promised a rapid expansion of U.S. aid to Yugoslavia along with other actions to help the new government prosper and regain respect for the country in the world community.
Yugoslavia's prime minister, Zoran Zizic, told reporters in Belgrade that his country sought to renew ties with the United States, Britain, France and Germany to end its isolation.
"There is no harder moment for a government than a breakup of diplomatic relations," Zizic said. "And there is no better moment than establishing them."
Britain and France also welcomed the move.
Since Milosevic's ouster, Yugoslavia has rejoined the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Kostunica also has attended a European Union summit and held talks with several world leaders.
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