Byzantine Blog

Mediating Troika Member on What’s Next

The international mediating troika — the representatives of Russia, EU and US — have started to prepare negotiations’ progress report to be submitted to the UN Secretary General on December 10, the Russian representative of the troika Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said.

He told the RIA Novosti news agency it has been planned for the main part of the report to be put together on Sunday, December 3, when the troika members will head off for Belgrade and Pristina.

These meetings, according to Kharchenko, will serve to present the sides with the contents of the report. On December 9, in Vienna, the document will be presented to the representatives of the Contact Group members (Russia, Italy, France, UK, US and Germany).

The report is not expected to contain any conclusions or recommendations, because that was not the task mediating troika was assigned with.

Kosovo Albanians Took No Part in Negotiations, Passively Waiting for what they were Promised by Western Sponsors

In an interview to the Itar-Tass agency, Botsan-Kharchenko stressed that the main reason for the lack of success during the Belgrade-Pristina negotiations mediated by the Contact Group troika can be traced down to countless statements by the Western officials who kept claiming that Kosovo independence was “inevitable”.

“To expect Kosovo Albanians to be flexible and constructive in such a climate has proven entirely ludicrous. Pristina decided to simply wait for what it was promised, while Belgrade kept trying to find a way to reach a compromise,” the mediating troika member said.

“Unilateral actions will prove to be extremely dangerous for the region. The bad Kosovo example is already destabilizing Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Kharchenko, the representative of the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry in the Contact Group, said.

He pointed out that Serbian officials offered new constructive proposals during every round of talks, while their Kosovo Albanian opponents failed to introduce a single new element within their demand for independence — “according to the Ahtisaari recipe.” They only showed signs of willingness to cooperate on the subject of post-status problems, the Russian diplomat attests.

Botsan-Kharchenko reiterated Moscow’s dedication to solving the Serbian province issue within the international legal norms:

“The process of determining the status of Kosovo should remain within the legal framework and Resolution 1244 and should lead to some agreements. I fully agree with the thesis that only the U.N. Security Council can complete what it has started.”

Cartoon by Zoran Matic Mazos (Serbia)