Russia for negotiations on Kosovo’s future http://www.thenews.com.pk/images/shim.gifhttp://www.thenews.com.pk/images/shim.gifhttp://www.thenews.com.pk/images/shim.gif
BELGRADE: Russia on Thursday called for more talks on the future of Serbia’s breakaway Kosovo province, saying it opposed a solution that was not accepted by both Serbia and Kosovo’s majority Albanian population. “Any unilaterally imposed solution is absolutely unacceptable,” its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told reporters after meeting Serbian President Boris Tadic. “We are starting from the position that it is necessary to continue negotiations and we are coordinating with our Serb partners,” Lavrov said on the sidelines of a Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) conference. Kosovo has been under UN administration since 1999 when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces to stop them attacking ethnic Albanian civilians while fighting a separatist insurgency. About 10,000 Albanians were killed and nearly one million temporarily driven out of the country. UN special envoy Marrti Ahtisaari spent a year mediating talks between Serbia and Kosovo Albanians without finding a hint of compromise between their diametrically opposed positions. The Albanians are impatient for independence, which Serbia rejects. The West fears there could be violence if a decision is put off further and European Union states have told Russia Kosovo is going to be an EU problem if it is not resolved. Tadic rejected the West’s stand that Kosovo was a unique case. He said countries with restive minorities who were demanding a separate state were closely watching how the UNSC would solve the Kosovo issue. “It would set a dangerous precedent and would have serious consequences on the stability of the entire Balkan region but also in other regions in the world,” Tadic said. Ahtisaari’s plan, currently under review by the Security Council, proposes EU-supervised independence. Belgrade hopes that Russia, its Orthodox ally and a veto holder in the Security Council, can help it buy time or even veto the plan. “We are interested in the stabilisation of the situation in the Balkans in general and Serbia in particular,” Lavrov said. “Stability can be shattered by any attempt to unilaterally recognise the independence of Kosovo.” Lavrov did not say whether Russia would use its veto to block such a resolution. The United States and most European countries support the Ahtisaari plan and want a quick Security Council resolution. In deference to Russia, the United Nations is sending a fact-finding mission to Kosovo on April 25-27. Lavrov said mission “absolutely must” visit the Serb enclaves to see conditions on the ground. The UN in Kosovo says it will be happy to take the fact-finders anywhere they want to go but so far has received no request or programme. View article... <http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r896375174>
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