NATO DOESN'T EXPECT MILOSEVIC TO ATTACK MONTENEGRO BUT IS STANDING BY

BRUSSELS, July 11 (Hina) - NATO does not expect that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic will attack Montenegro but it is standing by in the event the conflict escalates, NATO Secretary- General George Robertson told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday. Speaking about the situation in Montenegro at a briefing organised for Croatian reporters who are on a two-day visit to the NATO headquarters, Robertson stressed he did not believe the Yugoslav president would cause a new conflict following NATO's intervention in Kosovo. The NATO Secretary-General would not say how NATO would react to a possible escalation of the situation. According to Robertson, Croatia has entered Partnership for Peace quickly because of the significant progress the Croatian government achieved in only six months in the area of democratisation, implementation of a programme of return of Serb refugees, cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, media freedom and transparency in the financing of the Croat component of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina army. Asked whether NATO troops in Bosnia would increase their efforts in capturing the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, Robertson said NATO would continue searching for war criminals in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Karadzic will certainly be arrested and brought before the judges in The Hague, Robertson said. (hina) jn rml