Russia Remains Principled
Cosmetic Changes Can’t Conceal the Intention to Sever Kosovo From Serbia
Russia has rejected the latest US/UK draft resolution on Serbian Kosovo province, stressing that the fundamental problems have not been addressed and that the latest draft is nothing more than “cosmetically edited” version of earlier US/UK drafts.
“Russia will support only a resolution that is acceptable to both sides,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday, emphasizing that the negotiations on southern Serbian province should resume without the predetermined outcome.
“The problem of predetermined decisions on Kosovo status has not been eliminated,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by the Itar-TASS news agency, adding that “at this moment, there are no signs of agreement.”
“The ornate maze of diplomatic rhetoric barely conceals the conclusion that after 120 days the Ahtisaari plan should take effect in practical terms, regardless of whether or not the sides come to terms,” Lavrov said.
Look Who’s Talking
Asked to comment the statement made by Martti Ahtisaari to Finnish daily that the status of Russia will be “weakened on the international scene if it blocks the UN Security Council resolution on Kosovo,” Minister Lavrov said that it was rather inappropriate.
“Such statements do not diminish the status of Russia but of someone else,” said Lavrov, explaining that Ahtisaari’s ‘status’ in the matter has been determined when he was given a job to come up with proposals to resolve the dispute.
Suggesting Ahtisaari is biased and therefore unfit to monitor further talks between Serbian officials and Kosovo Albanian separatists, Russian Foreign Minister said:
“If one side cannot accept these proposals, then it’s necessary to continue negotiations and it’s probably necessary to have an impartial international mediator foster these negotiations.”