Rubin: Every morning I was sent to the mountains to meet with Hashim Thaci

James Rubin, who during the war in Kosovo was US Assistant Secretary of State, is the first defence witness. His testimony is in defense of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci. He is accompanied by two representatives of the United States.

American diplomat James Rubin said he had returned to Kosovo in June 1999 to participate in the <x0-negotiations involving the demilitarisation of KLA”.

Before the court, he said he was former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told him to go to Kosovo, telling him that “stop doing everything you're doing”.

I was Mrs. Albright's spokesman. I was working on the issues of China and Russia, and she told me stop doing everything you're doing and you have to go to Kosovo, you have to go there in such a way as to help Mike Jackson fulfill his vows and make sure Hashim Thaci signs the deal. That's why I went to the” region, he said.

Former senior American official James Rubin indicated that during that period he had stayed at a hotel in Skopje and that every morning he was sent to the mountains to meet with Hashim Thaci.

I don't remember exactly, but maybe three or four days. I haven't actually stayed in Kosovo, I stayed at a hotel in Skopje, Macedonia, and every morning I was sent through special means to the mountains to meet with Hashim Thaci and the KLA's actual commanders. So every day, they took me out of there and took me out of it”.