Ahtisaari’s Plan Will Fail
Grownups Talking, Ahtisaari and Burns Should Go Play in the Sand
In what the Kremlin described as a “thorough and open” phone conversation initiated by the White House, U.S. President George W. Bush and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin discussed their differences over the missile defense plans and the fate of the Serbian province.
President Putin reiterated long-standing Russian objections to a UN-mediated plan for “supervised independence” for Kosovo-Metohija province, which has been under UN supervision since NATO’s aggression on the then Yugoslavia in 1999.
“President Vladimir Putin voiced Russia’s opposition to imposing a resolution on Kosovo province against Serbia’s will, so that a solution is worked out that would be acceptable both to Belgrade and Pristina,” the statement said.
Russia, a veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council, has repeatedly objected to the proposal for severing of Serbian province put forward by Martti Ahtisaari. Moscow has insisted that any solution must be agreeable to Serbia as well, not only to its ethnic Albanian minority concentrated in Kosovo-Metohija.
Russia strongly objected to the NATO aggression in 1999 and war against Serbs who were defending their territory from Albanian insurgents and terrorist KLA seeking to hijack Kosovo-Metohija province from Serbia.
Churkin: First, Let’s See How the Earlier Resolution Was Implemented
Ahead of a Security Council session, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin Tuesday proposed sending a fact-finding mission to Kosovo-Metohija province and Serbia proper, so the Council would have “all the information it can possibly get on the situation there before considering this proposal.”
He also called on the Council to request “a comprehensive review of implementation of [UN Security Council] Resolution 1244, from 1999, which has been and still is the foundation of all our efforts in Kosovo province.” The adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 on June 10, 1999 has ended a 78-day NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.
“To us it is logical and, in fact, imperative, to see where the international community stands on implementation of Resolution 1244 before we can, with all the responsibility invested in us by the international community, consider Ahtisaari’s proposal,” Russia’s UN Ambassador said.
He suggested members of the council could visit Serbia late next week after Ahtisaari briefs the panel April 3.
Kostunica: No One Needs Enemies With Such Friends
“We have been informed that the US, EU and NATO have given support to Ahtisaari’s proposal to seize 15 percent of Serbia’s territory. At present we will refrain from commenting their explanation that the territory is being taken out of friendly feelings towards Serbia,” said Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
The Serbian Prime Minister noted that “NATO called itself ‘Merciful Angel’ when it bombarded Serbia, and today, when it is trying to seize a significant part of our territory, it is calling itself Serbia’s friend.”
“Serbia answers with yet more determination and strength that Kosovo-Metohija is an integral and unalienable part of Serbia, that it is so according to law, and it will remain so according to law,” said Prime Minister.
“Today the world is not the way it used to be in 1999 when Serbia was bombarded. The UN Security Council does have instruments to stop the use of force and legal aggression against Serbia. Ahtisaari’s plan will fail despite the loud support it has received, and this failure will lead to new — actual negotiations — on the future regulation of the province,” said Kostunica.