Byzantine Blog

Serbia Calls an Urgent UN Security Council Session

Serbia on Tuesday called for an urgent session of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation regarding Western intention to dismember Serbia, by forcibly severing its southern province of Kosovo and Metohija.

In a letter to the president of the 15-member council, Serbia's Ambassador to the United Nations Pavle Jevremovic urged it to consider the grave situation in the Serbian Kosovo province where an illegal unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo Albanian separatists was announced to follow soon.

According to the reports, Jevremovic said he was instructed by his government to request the council to "consider an extremely grave situation in the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija where we witness the final preparatory activities for a unilateral declaration of the independence ..."

“Such a move would constitute a violation of UN Security Council resolution 1244 and the territorial integrity of Serbia and endanger the maintenance of international peace and security,” Serbia's UN ambassador said.

Reuters quoted Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin as confirming that Russian Federation will back Serbia's initiative. At the same time, Reuters reported that "British and U.S. envoys said they knew nothing about the request".

Parts of Serbia May Become an “EU Issue” Only when Serbia Becomes EU Member

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that determination of the status of Kosovo and Metohija province is squarely within the jurisdiction of the United Nations Security Council, and warned that a unilateral proclamation of the independence of the southern Serbian province could lead to the collapse of the European project.

“Russia will agree that the question of Kosovo is a matter for the European Union only when all of the Balkans, including Serbia within its present borders, is integrated within the Union,” Lavrov said in Geneva, as carried by the Itar-Tass news agency.

“However, for the time being, Kosovo is still an international issue that remains within the authority of the UN Security Council,” Russian minister said.

“The UN Security Council alone has universal jurisdiction and there can be no arbitrary approaches,” Lavrov said.

Return to Dark Ages

“Unilateral proclamation of the independence of this province will inflict damage to the reputation of the UN Security Council and to its authority, and that should be clearly understood,” Lavrov said, adding that any moving away on behalf of Europe from the principle of international legality would imply unpredictable consequences for the entire continent.

“Resolving the destinies of nations, by proceeding exclusively from the motive of alleged solidarity or some other political purpose, would in essence mark a return to the dark ages,” the Russian foreign minister said.

“It will be sad if the future historians point that the unilateral proclamation of the independence of Kosovo marked the beginning of the downfall of the current European project,” he said.

“For its part, Russia has done everything possible on the issue of Kosovo, but it will not take part in the undermining of the legal foundations of modern Europe by undermining the UN Charter,” Lavrov said.

“Last year, the mediating troika comprised of representatives of the EU, Russia and the United States of America, did not achieve poor results in the establishment of direct negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina,” Lavrov said, explaining that “there were concrete proposals for the status and it would be wrong to forcefully halt that process.”

Earlier today, the chief of Russian diplomacy was quoted as saying that a unilateral declaration of the province's independence by its ethnic Albanians would threaten the security of Europe itself.

Foreign Minister Lavrov also repeated Russian Federation's position that Serbian province can in no way be treated as a unique case.

"It is a question of undermining the foundation of international law, all the principles Europe worked so hard to establish, at the price of wars, sacrifices and bloodshed and put at the core of its existence, the principles on which OSCE rests, principles that are embedded in the U.N. Charter," Lavrov told a Tuesday press conference in Geneva.

"I sincerely fail to comprehend the principles guiding our American colleagues, and those European [countries] who have taken up this position," he added.

Absolutely Unacceptable Double Standards

Lavrov went on to say that a large number of countries, including some in Europe, have said it is quite unavoidable for a unilateral declaration of independence to take place, and that they would support it.

"I see that many have not managed to grasp the most basic things, because what they are talking about is the breakup of the legal order in Europe," Lavrov noted.

He added that southern Serbian Kosovo province cannot be treated as a special case and that there was an "absolute double standard" when it comes to explanations that "Kosovo is a unique case, and that it in no way influences the situation in other regions".

Since it has been argued that Serbs and Albanians "cannot live in the same state", Lavrov wondered what will happen to the remaining Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija:

"They are saying that Serbs and Albanians cannot live together, and that this is why Kosovo needs to be separated from Serbia, but there are Serbs living in Kosovo as well."

"If one were to accept this thesis, what happens to the Serbs in Kosovo? There are no answers to these questions. Absolutely, double standards," Lavrov said, stressing that the whole Western design in case of the Serbian province is entirely unacceptable and irresponsible.