MOSCOW, Jan 12, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) The agenda of Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev's visit to Yugoslavia in early February will include discussion on depleted uranium weapons, a Russian news agency reported Thursday quoting an unnamed source.

According to the source quoted by the RIA-Novosti news agency, the Russian defense ministry was preparing Sergeyev's talks with the Yugoslav leadership and commanders of international peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Kosovo.

"The situation in the Balkans, the peacekeeping operations and the recent scandal over use of depleted uranium munitions will all be on the agenda," the source said as quoted by the agency.

Moscow has recently charged that Washington was not taking seriously the claims that a string of cancer cases, some fatal, among members of European peacekeeping contingents were linked to the U.S. use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions during the 1999 Balkans conflict.

Seven Italian soldiers and one aid worker, five Belgian peacekeepers, four Dutch nationals, two Spaniards, two Portuguese and a Czech have died after tours of duty in the Balkans, many from leukemia and other cancers.

As NATO flatly denied any connection between the DU weapons and the lethal diseases, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Thursday it would appoint its own experts to study Balkans syndrome. ((c) 2001 Agence France Presse)