He made this claim speaking of "Albanian terrorism" in Kosovo in 1998-9, which he compared to Chechen terrorism.
Ryzhkov testified about Russia's policy towards NATO's spring 1999 bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), which is related to the part of Milosevic's indictment referring to Kosovo. At that time, Ryzhkov chaired the Russian parliamentary commission for assistance to FRY and frequently visited Belgrade.
He labelled the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) a terror organisation whose members were trained in camps in Albania, with the participation of thousands of hired guns from the Middle East and financing from that region and Europe. He said Russia had information that there had been 800,000 mercenaries, which surprised even Milosevic.
Ryzhkov said the KLA's main source of financing had been Albanian drug trafficking.
He said the Russian Parliament had harshly condemned the NATO bombing as unacceptable and expressed solidarity with the FRY. He added the bombing was responsible for the mass exodus of Albanians from Kosovo.
Ryzhkov said NATO's intervention on FRY territory was carried out on the basis of NATO's unanimous decision, without the consent of the UN Security Council. He added the intervention represented the gravest undermining of security in Europe in a number of decades.
Describing the aftermath of the bombing, Ryzhkov said it could be seen that only civilian facilities had been destroyed.
He said the Serbian troops' operations against Kosovo Albanians in 1998-9 were legitimate measures intended to stop ethnic conflicts.
Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice made several objections to Milosevic's suggestive questions, claiming their validity as evidence was limited.
Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson cautioned Milosevic that he must not testify instead of the witness or cite documents which were not translated or submitted to either the judges or the prosecution.
Ryzhkov defined the Croatian-Serbian conflict as part of a conflict between the Western European and the Slavic civilisation, saying the Serbs were the latter's protruding part on the Balkans.
Speaking of Milosevic, Ryzhkov said he had always advocated a peaceful resolution to the disintegration of Socialist Yugoslavia. He also described his meetings with indicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Radovan Karadzic in 1993-4, saying that Karadzic was not inclined to listen to Milosevic.
Asked by Milosevic if he had ever heard him or the Serbian leadership mention the Greater Serbia concept, Ryzhkov answered in the negative, but said he had heard of Greater Albania, which he added Adolf Hitler himself had advocated in 1943.
Prosecutor Nice attacked Ryzhkov's credibility as a witness, citing among other things Ryzhkov's letter to the Hague tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, in which he labelled the arrest and trial of Milosevic an act of humiliation of the Serbs and the continuation of NATO's aggression. He wrote that a person who defended the interests of his state and people could not be put on trial.
Ryzhkov said the Hague tribunal was illegal, and the documents and witnesses against Milosevic false.
Elaborating on his theory of the conflict of civilisations, Ryzhkov said it was initiated by the United States with an aim to create an unstable area in Eurasia and facilitate the realisation of its geopolitical goals. He added Osama bin Laden was a creation of the US.
Ryzhkov, who resumes his testimony tomorrow, said he feared the West and the US wanted to apply the Balkan recipe to Russia in order to initiate the break-up of the Russian Federation.