U.S. AMBASSADOR SAYS KRAJINA WAS COMPLETELY DEPENDANT ON SERBIA

ZAGREB/THE HAGUE June 25 (Hina) - Former US Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith said in the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic at The Hague Wednesday that the self-styled Republic of Srpska Krajina was completely dependent on Serbia in the political, military and financial sense. #L# The region was poor and could not have survived without the help of Serbia, said Galbraith, a witness for the prosecution in Milosevic's trial for war crimes in Croatia. The US government had reliable evidence that Serbian authorities were paying the Krajina military and police salaries and providing the area with fuel, he said. It was clear to everybody that the Krajina leadership did not make decisions without consulting Milosevic, Galbraith said. He buttressed this claim by citing a response by a senior Krajina official to demands late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman had set as a condition not to go ahead with the "Storm" liberation operation in 1995. Only one sentence from Milosevic is needed and Knin will agree, Galbraith cited Krajina Premier Milan Babic as saying in reply to Tudjman's request that Serbs withdraw from Bihac, open up oil pipelines, roads and railways through Knin and start negotiations on the peaceful reintegration of occupied Croatian areas into the country's constitutional order. Galbraith continues his testimony on Thursday. (hina) lml sb