Gore, Bush debate Russian role in Yugoslavia Reuters, 10/03/00 BOSTON -- Republican George W. Bush called Tuesday for a bigger Russian role in pushing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to leave power, a position Democratic Vice President Al Gore opposed. The situation in Yugoslav was one of the few specific foreign issues that came up during their first presidential debate. Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Milosevic and his opponent Vojislav Kostunica, for talks in Moscow to resolve their dispute over presidential elections Sept. 24. Kostunica says he won an outright victory by gaining more than 50 percent of the votes. The government says Kostunica won 48 percent and must face Milosevic in a second round run-off. Bush said the Russians should "step up and lead" by convincing Milosevic that "it's in his best interests and his country's best interests to leave office." "The Russians have got a lot of sway in that part of the world, and we'd like to see them use that sway to encourage democracy to take hold," Bush said. Gore disagreed. He said since Russia has not been willing to recognize Kostunica as the winner, "I'm not sure that it's right for us to invite the president of Russia to mediate this dispute there, because we might not like the result that comes out of that." Gore said the United States should support the people of Serbia and "put pressure in every way possible to recognize the lawful outcome of the election." The Yugoslav government has ignored Western appeals to recognize Kostunica as the winner. Gore said "measured steps" are called for because many Serbs still oppose the United States because of the 78-day NATO air war last year to force Serb troops out of Kosovo. The United States has said it will push for a lifting of economic sanctions against Yugoslavia if Milosevic will step down and give way to a democratic government. "Even if they don't like Milosevic, they still have some feelings lingering from the NATO action there. So we have to be intelligent in the way we go about it," Gore said.