http://en.rian.ru/world/20060522/48424329.html
Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
May 22, 2006
Kosovo talks to step up gear after Montenegro vote - Russian MP
-[T]he discussions on Kosovo's controversial status - ethnic Albanians are
pushing for independence from Belgrade - would inevitably be taken to a new
level....If this were to happen, he said it would "set a far-reaching
precedent for other situations (northern Cyprus and the Basque country)."
MOSCOW - Discussions over the status of Kosovo will become more intense
after Sunday's referendum on the independence of Montenegro, a senior member
of the lower chamber of Russia's parliament said Monday.
The elections commission has said that 55.4% (with 55%
required) of votes were cast in favor of Montenegro seceding from its union
with Serbia, which on paper still includes the province of Kosovo, even
though it has been a UN protectorate since 1999.
Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the State Duma's international affairs
committee, said the discussions on Kosovo's controversial status - ethnic
Albanians are pushing for independence from Belgrade - would inevitably be
taken to a new level, though he warned against making any decision without
taking into account the interests of the minority Serbs.
If this were to happen, he said it would "set a far-reaching precedent for
other situations (northern Cyprus and the Basque country)."
Kosachev said the status of Kosovo, which NATO troops first entered after
Serbian forces were accused of committing atrocities against ethnic
Albanians, should be considered as part of a UN Security Council resolution.
....
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said May 19 that talks Kosovo's
status should be concluded by the end of the year, a view that is shared by
the other members of the six-nation Contact Group: the United States,
Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
Earlier, some Russian politicians expressed concern that independence for
Kosovo in what was once Yugoslavia would create a precedent for recognizing
breakaway regions in the former Soviet Union.
Moldova is dealing with a separatist regime in Transdnestr and Georgia has
two breakaway regions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Nagorny Karabakh, a
largely ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan, has long been a source of
friction between the two Caucasus states.
Serbian News Network - SNN
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http://www.antic.org/
