http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11790130
Interfax July 13, 2007 Lavrov blasts Ahtisaari on statement about Russia's int'l relevance MOSCOW) - UN special representative for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari's statement to the effect that Moscow's blocking of a UN resolution on Kosovo would hurt Russia's international standing is inappropriate, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. "I did not hear the statement myself, but if it was actually made, I consider it inappropriate," Lavrov told journalists on Friday. ------------------------------------------------------ http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070713/68904465.html Russian Information Agency Novosti July 13, 2007 Proposal to reduce Russia's role in UN inappropriate-FM MOSCOW - The Russian foreign minister dismissed remarks by a UN envoy Friday as inappropriate suggesting Russia's role at the UN Security Council should be reduced over its hard line against Western states' Kosovo plan. Asked to comment on Martti Ahtisaari's statement on a reduced role for Russia over its consistent opposition to UN draft resolutions giving Serbia's ethnic-Albanian province sovereignty, Sergei Lavrov said: "I have not heard this statement, but if it was made, I consider it inappropriate." The Associated Press quoted Ahtisaari as saying in an interview with a Finnish newspaper Thursday: "Now it [Russia] could cause the UN real problems unless the Security Council is able to come to a clear conclusion. In that case, the situation would become very difficult to handle in all respects." Russia rejected Thursday the latest, third, draft UN resolution on Kosovo, proposed by the United States, France and Britain, which would not automatically grant the Balkan province independence after 120 days of multilateral negotiations, as stipulated in the previous draft. "The problem of Kosovo's independence has not been removed from the agenda. The diplomatic rhetoric suggests that the Ahtisaari plan will come into effect after the negotiations," Lavrov said. The previous draft was based on Ahtisaari's plan to give Kosovo independence without the prior consent of Serbia. Russia, a veto-wielding Security Council member and a longtime ally of Serbia, has insisted on a decision that would satisfy both Belgrade and Pristina. ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/13/europe/EU-GEN-Russia-Kosovo.php Associated Press July 13, 2007 Russian FM blasts U.N. Kosovo envoy, suggests unfit to foster resolution MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister suggested Friday that the U.N. envoy overseeing talks on Kosovo's status is biased and questioned his ability to foster a fair settlement of its dispute with Serbia. Sergey Lavrov was responding to published remarks by U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari that said Russia would diminish its international stature if it were to block negotiations on the future of the breakaway Serbian province — presumably by vetoing a potential U.N. resolution. Lavrov said he had not heard Ahtisaari's comments, published Thursday in a Finnish newspaper, but that they would be "out of place." "If such an announcement lowers someone's international status, it is not Russia's," he told reporters. Ahtisaari's job was to come up with proposals to resolve the dispute, Lavrov said, and hinted he could be unfit to monitor further talks between the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo. "If one side ... cannot accept these proposals, it's necessary to continue negotiations and it's probably necessary to have an impartial international mediator foster these negotiations," he said. The remarks came amid a standoff between Russia and Western nations including the United States over Kosovo. Russia says it will not support an outcome that is not approved by Serbia, which opposes independence for the province. In April, Ahtisaari recommended Kosovo be granted internationally supervised independence — a proposal supported by its ethnic Albanians, but rejected by its Serb minority, Serbia and Russia, which warned it could use its U.N. Security Council veto to block the plan. In a bid to win support from Russia, Western nations recently revised a U.N. resolution on the issue to call for four months of intensive negotiations between Kosovo's ethnic Albanians and Serbs — without any promise of independence if talks fail. Serbia swiftly rejected the plan. Russia is studying the proposal, but Lavrov suggested it was little but a dressed up version of Ahtisaari's initial plan and still included a "predetermination of Kosovo's independence," according to Russian news agencies. In an interview published Thursday in the Finnish newspaper Lansi-Savo, Ahtisaari suggested Russia would deepen the tension over Kosovo and damage its own reputation if it were to veto the new version of the resolution. Kosovo remains a province of Serbia, but has been under U.N. and NATO administration since a 1999 NATO-led bombing campaign — which Moscow vehemently criticized — halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
