Byzantine Blog

Russia will Not Allow Violation of Serbia’s Borders

Russia protects international law, and even if the West initiates the wave of Serbian province’s unilateral recognition, Russia will not allow the change of Serbia’s status through severing of its southern province and violation of its borders, because Serbia is a respectable state and a UN member, Dimitry Rogozin, a Russian Duma deputy and Russia’s future permanent representative to NATO, said on Friday.

Pointing out that Russia is not Serbia’s hired attorney, Rogozin said in an interview with the state-run Rossiya television channel that Russia protects the international law and the rules of the game which are in effect in every field and particularly in relations between states.

“Why should Kosovo not be allowed to secede as a separate state? Because that is wrong. Because the fact that migrants suddenly constitute a majority in a region does not mean that they should be given the right to set up their own state,” he said.

Rogozin said that, in communication with Germans, he points out that Berlin is the third-biggest Turkish city, after Istanbul and Ankara.

Noting that the issue of Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija is one of the most serious problems today, Rogozin said that he has just returned from Belgrade and that the entire Serbia is placing its hope in Russia as the sole country which firmly upholds the principles of international law and rejects Kosovo independence.

If it remains firm on this issue, Russia will recover its influence in the Balkans, he said after a session of the Duma foreign policy committee which supported his candidacy for the post of ambassador to NATO.

Russian Deputy PM: Kosovo a Test for OSCE

The issue of Kosovo-Metohija will shortly become a real test for the commitment of many states to the basic principles of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and for its stability, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said.

He told Itar-Tass in Vienna, where he attended a session of OSCE Permanent Council, that OSCE endeavors should focus on helping negotiating processes in regional conflicts, in building confidence among parties in conflict and inciting them to resolve problems by peaceful means, dialog and cooperation.

Double Standards and Artificial Deadlines Unacceptable

In seeking solutions to frozen conflicts, dual standards and approaches must not be used, as that would result in tensions and mistrust, pushing the processes backwards, he said.

Russia once again urges respect of uniform principles and standards in resolving regional conflicts, Grushko said.

Existing peace and negotiating processes should be supported, parties to conflicts should be encouraged to reach agreements and conditions should be secured to prevent the people living in conflict zones from feeling abandoned by the international community, he said.

For reaching compromises, however, setting the artificial time-frames is unacceptable, he noted.

This approach should be applied to all conflicts, and Russia hopes this view will be shared by its partners and included in the documents to be adopted by OSCE foreign ministers at the end of November in Madrid, he said.

Moscow Mayor: Russia Should Recognize Abkhazia as an Independent State

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said on Thursday that Russia should recognize the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, in the reference to double standards that a part of the international community applies when the independence of Serbian Kosovo province is at issue.

When discussing Kosovo, various protagonists of the international politics talk about the right to self-determination, Luzhkov said at an international conference in Moscow, adding that, however, when Abkhazia or South Ossetia are at issue, double standards are applied and the right to self-determination inexplicably revoked.

Around 80 percent of the citizens of Abkhazia have Russian passports based on their own request, recalled Luzhkov, who is a member and one of the founding members of the ruling United Russia party.

Abkhazia is an autonomous region of the Caucus region which, following the disintegration of the Soviet Union, remained stuck within Georgia.

The people of Abkhazia have since been urging for independence or annexation to Russia, but the international community, led by U.S. State Department, keeps insisting that the region has to remain a part of NATO-adoring, dictatorial Saakashvili’s Georgia.

Cartoon by Ranko Guzina (Serbia)