West Continues to Lobby for Lawlessness In Kosovo Province
Lavrov: No More Schemes, International Law Only
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday stated that any resolution on Kosovo and Metohija that is unacceptable to Serbia will not be backed at the United Nations Security Council.
“Every solution reached through an agreement of both sides [Belgrade and Pristina] is possible. Any other solution may not be backed by the Security Council,” the RIA Novosti news agency reported Lavrov as underscoring in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Lavrov underscored that Russia’s position is well known and that a solution needs to be found on the basis of international law, and not to be “dictated by artificial schemes.”
“There could be no other solution and it cannot be backed by the UN SC,” stressed Lavrov.
Serbian Government: Talks, Minus Ahtisaari and his Draft
Serbia has rejected Ahtisaari’s plan for Kosovo, which is why that proposal is entirely useless for the new negotiations, Srdjan Djuric, the Serbian Premier’s adviser, told Tanjug late on Sunday reacting to the statement by the US Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniel Fried in Podgorica, that Ahtisaari’s plan was “good basis” for the resumption of the talks.
“Without Ahtisaari and his proposal the idea of the new talks is more than useful. It is realistic to expect that a belief will prevail within the international community that new talks should be organized in autumn and that they should not be burdened with Ahtisaari’s unsuccessful plan,” said Djuric.
He added that the negotiations would “make sense and could be described as negotiations only if their outcome is not determined in advance.”
Fried said in Podgorica that United States support continuation of the talks on Serbian Kosovo province for another six months, and that this should be followed by an implementation of Ahtisaari’s plan “if another agreement is not reached through negotiations.”
Threats and Blackmail Not Constructive
To speak of possible outbreak of violence if independence of southern Serbian province is not immediately achieved would be unfair and tantamount to blackmail, head of the Russian Office in Pristina Andrei Dronov told NTV Sunday.
In a report on the consultations on the future status of Serbia’s Kosovo-Metohija province underway in the UN Security Council and on the quarterly report UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker is to present to UN SC Monday, NTV notes that “Western diplomats consider the situation in Kosovo potentially dangerous.”
NTV quotes Ruecker as saying that “everything that has been achieved can fall through if the Kosovo status is not clarified soon.”
At the same time, NATO officers of various ranks in charge of security in the province believe unrest in unlikely, NTV reporter said.
Cartoon by Zoran Matic-Mazos (Serbia)