President Yeltsin, increasingly exercised by NATO's continued bombing of Yugoslavia, yesterday called for an urgent meeting of the G8 group of industrialised countries.
"Despite Russia's most decisive intervention, NATO's military campaign against Yugoslavia, unfortunately, continues to expand," Mr Yeltsin said on ORT television.
"The situation threatens to degenerate into a big calamity, and not just in Europe. This must not be allowed.
"We can and must resolve the Kosovo conflict around the negotiating table," he said, adding: "Every wasted day leads to new losses and new tragedies. We must act immediately."
Mr Yeltsin said he had instructed the Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, to call a meeting of the G8 urgently, in order to thrash out a political agreement to end the bloodshed in Yugoslavia.
The group is comprised of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Meanwhile, the electronic surveillance vessel Leman (Lagoon) was being readied to depart from the Sevastopol base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet today for the Adriatic where it will monitor NATO activity against Yugoslavia.
Other ships being prepared to join the Leman include the 4,400 tonne battle cruiser Admiral Golovko and the large anti-submarine ships Kerch (named after a Crimean town) and Sderzhanny (Restrained) as well as the escort ships Pytlivi (Inquisitive), Ladny (Agile) and Smetlivi (Smart).
On paper at least some of the ships appear to be quite impressive. The Admiral Golovko, for example, carries 16 SSN3 and 22 SAN1 missiles as well as four 76 mm guns while the 8,200 tonne Kerch is an anti-submarine vessel with 8 SAN1 missiles and is capable of 32 knots.
Russia's navy did not undergo the humiliations of Afghanistan and Chechnya which did so much to demoralise its Army and to a lesser extent its Air Force. US and NATO sources have described Russia's decision to send vessels to the Adriatic as "unhelpful". It is now almost ten years since ships of the then Soviet Black Sea fleet have steamed into the Mediterranean.
In shows of strength, officially unconnected with Kosovo, Russian forces yesterday launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from a North Sea Fleet base in the Barents sea at a target in the Kamchatka peninsula in the far east, according to the semi-official news agency ITAR-TASS.
The agency also reported the start of exercises by the 32nd Airborne Brigade of paratroopers near the Volga city of Ulyanovsk.
On the political and diplomatic front, Mr Yeltsin called for an urgent G8 meeting and Mr Ivanov spoke on the telephone to the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright.
Mr Ivanov, who claims that the conflict in Kosovo is about to spill over into other Balkan countries, said Ms Albright asked about Russia's ship movements and that he told her that NATO's actions in the region were leading it up a blind alley.
Mr Yeltsin announced his call for a meeting of G8 in a short speech on Russian Television. He spoke slowly and in an almost solemn tone saying that he had instructed Mr Ivanov to ask for a meeting of the foreign ministers of the United States, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Britain and Japan to discuss the Kosovo situation. Of the eight member states only Russia and Japan are not members of NATO.