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France denies arms to Serbs for pilots' release

PARIS: France denied on Sunday a French television report which said Paris paid for weapons to be delivered by Russia to Bosnian Serbs forces in exchange for the release of two downed French airmen last December.

"There were neither negotiations, nor compensations, nor exchanges for the release of the pilots," a defence ministry spokesman said.

TF-1 television said late on Saturday that Paris secured the release of the two men, shot down during a NATO air offensive against the Bosnian Serbs in August, after lengthy negotiations and in exchange for arms it purchased from Moscow and which were delivered to the Bosnian Serbs by Russia.

French President Jacques Chirac publicly thanked Russian leader Boris Yeltsin for his help at the time of the airmen's release. Russia had maintained closer links with the Serbs during the conflict than Western countries but subscribed to the international embargo against Bosnian Serbs and Serbia.

The TF1 report included an interview with a man it identified as Colonel Vladimir Koulich of the Russian foreign intelligence agency, and said he played a key role in the case.

Koulich, apparently interviewed in Moscow, said he was involved with Jean-Charles Marchiani, a veteran French intelligence operative who handled hostage release negotiations with pro-Iranian Lebanese kidnappers in the past.

But Koulich did not directly mention arms deliveries and the television report showed no documents or evidence to back its contention that they were made.-Reuter