Spyros Kyprianou, Cyprus's acting president, flies to Athens en route to Belgrade on Wednesday. (AP)

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 8, 1999; Page A28

Pressing ahead with an initiative to win the freedom of three U.S. soldiers captured by Yugoslavia, a veteran politician from Cyprus planned to fly into Belgrade today with a tacit green light from the United States and hopes of bringing the men home.

The United States agreed yesterday to ensure that Spyros Kyprianou, the acting president of Cyprus, would be able to fly safely into the Yugoslav capital aboard a plane provided by Greece. But Washington rejected his request for a full-fledged cease-fire during his mission. U.S. officials insisted that any release of the three soldiers must be "unconditional."

"We're assisting the Greek government in enabling their plane to fly in a secure way to Belgrade," said State Department spokesman James P. Rubin. He said that the United States has made "certain arrangements" that he declined to specify but that there will be "no cease-fire."

Suggestions that Yugoslav authorities are prepared to release the three soldiers have been greeted with skepticism by U.S. officials and the men's families. The three -- Army Spec. Steven M. Gonzales, 21, of Huntsville, Tex.; Staff Sgt. Andrew A. Ramirez, 24, of Los Angeles; and Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Stone, 25, of Smiths Creek, Mich. -- were stationed in Macedonia as part of a U.N. peacekeeping force and had no role in a NATO bombing campaign that began March 24.

They were captured by Yugoslav forces March 31 while patrolling along the Macedonian border with Yugoslavia. Belgrade contends the three were seized in Yugoslav territory. The Pentagon says it has not determined exactly where the capture took place.

Kyprianou, who landed in Athens yesterday en route to Belgrade, plans to meet Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic today but does not intend to engage in negotiations, according to the Cypriot ambassador to Washington, Erato Kozakou-Markoullis.

"His only mission is to bring the three Americans safely back to Nicosia to be delivered to the American embassy there," she said.

She said Kyprianou has received a commitment from Yugoslav officials that the soldiers will be released without conditions in what she described as "a gesture on the part of the Yugoslav government."

Kyprianou, 66, the speaker of the Cypriot parliament, is acting president of Cyprus in the absence of President Glafcos Clerides, who is on vacation. He served as president himself from 1977 to 1988 and developed close ties to Yugoslav leaders, including Milosevic. When the NATO airstrikes started, Kyprianou demanded an immediate halt to the bombing and called for negotiations. Demonstrators sympathetic to Yugoslavia and Serbia, its main republic, burned U.S. flags on the Mediterranean island and pelted the U.S. Embassy there with rocks.

Cyprus traditionally has maintained friendly relations with Serbia, largely because of a shared affiliation with the Christian Orthodox Church.

Rubin said the U.S. government has no way of knowing whether release of the three soldiers is imminent or whether Milosevic was "trying to find cracks" in the NATO alliance. He stressed that the capture was "illegal" and complained that Yugoslav authorities have refused to allow outsiders, including the Red Cross, to see the men.

"We would certainly welcome their release," he said. "But since they shouldn't have been taken in the first place, we should be very clear that the only thing acceptable is an unconditional release."

However, even such a release "won't have any effect on the continued air campaign," said a spokesman for the National Security Council.

Relatives of the men said the Pentagon has told them of the Cypriot mission but cautioned them that the outcome is uncertain.

"I don't know what to believe," said Stone's mother-in-law, Lisa McKinney, according to Reuters. "All of a sudden, out of nowhere, this is going to be a 'peace thing' and they're going to let him go. I'll believe it when I see it."

"It's all kind of iffy right now," said Larry Fitzgerald, a spokesman for Gonzales' parents in Huntsville, Tex.