Byzantine Blog

China and Russia Oppose Dismemberment of Serbian State

Current whirlwind of diplomatic activity on behalf of Serbian government seeking to preserve their state highlights strong support of both Russia and China, permanent members of the UN Security Council with the power of veto.

Urging respect for currently binding UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which reaffirms Kosovo-Metohija province as an integral part of Serbia, China’s Vice Premier Hui Liangyu stressed that “China is against an imposed solution to Kosovo-Metohija status and the imposition of deadlines for finding a solution, adding that a compromise resolution must be reached through talks between Belgrade and Pristina.”

Today, Belgrade has received another confirmation of the equally firm support from the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, who expressed his conviction that the UN Security Council will not trample over the Resolution 1244 which safeguards the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia and repeated, for the thousandth time, that Russia is resolutely “in favor of continued dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina,” stressing that “a stable solution cannot be reached without an agreement, and there can be no agreement without negotiations.”

Growing Opposition to Severing Serbian Province Among the EU Member States

Apart from the big players on the international scene, such as veto-holding Russia and China who are strongly opposed to dismemberment of internationally recognized Serbian state, a number of smaller EU member-states have also spoken against tearing Serbia apart for the sake of Albanian minority with separatist agenda. Despite the overwhelming pressure from the U.S. State Department, NATO leadership and the leading EU officials to present the “unified front” in favor of enforcing the one-sided, biased Ahtisaari’s proposal which advocates the amputation of southern province from Serbia, there is a sense of growing awareness within the EU block of states that a precedent-setting Ahtisaari draft represents an alarming threat to peace and the world order, bound to produce exactly the opposite of what its proponents claim: destabilization and fragmentation endangering Europe, plunging it back into the medieval battlefield for expansion and territories.

Former Czech Foreign Minister and the UN rapporteur for human rights in Bosnia, Jiri Dienstbier has recently articulated some of the fears a number of EU member states have vocalized, pointing out that the most solid ground on which real, sustainable solutions can be built is the law itself, not the proposed lawlessness.

Dienstbier: Kosovo Independence — the Worst “Solution”

“Since there are no good solutions, we should opt for respecting the international law,” Jiri Dienstbier told Czech weekly MF Plus on April 17. Stressing that internationally binding Helsinki Charter regulates that any alteration of state borders could be applicable only if all concerned parties gave consent, Dienstbier said: “Let’s take the Czechs and the Slovakians for an example, or the Russians and the Ukrainians. What is more, prudent politicians know that the recognition of Kosovo can have immense consequences elsewhere. The Republic of Srpska may then seek partition, or Hungarians in Slovakia, or maybe Catalonians and the Basque in Spain.”

He added that “all these years the issues in Kosovo remained unsolved, with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) still in power, regardless of what they call them nowadays.” The U.S. and the EU’s insistence on granting the province independence is, according to Dienstbier, “a senseless continuation of their politics from the 1990s.”

“There are no good solutions for Kosovo, and independence is surely the worst,” Dienstbier said, explaining that the goal of the Albanian separatists in Kosovo was “to unite all Albanians under one flag,” creating the “Greater Albania” which “would entail the break-up of the entire Balkans and Europe, for that matter.”

“Should we send our troops there like we did in Iraq,” Dienstbier asked, reiterating his firm position that “the international law should be respected in case a good solution was not available.”

Connecting the Dots

At the time when opposing statements and claims are being issued left and right, retracted and reiterated on a daily basis and when the problem appears way too complex to be able to get some sense out of it, like in the case of Serbian Kosovo-Metohija province right now, taking a step back to have an overview of the positions held by opposing sides is the only way to gain the proper perspective. Serbian historian and political analyst Nebojsa Malic offers such an overview that connects the seemingly disparate issues in his latest column, War of Words.