http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20071219/93225837.html
Rossiiskaya Gazeta
December 19, 2007
Kosovo is an unwanted precedent for Russia
With several self-proclaimed states on the territory
of the former Soviet Union eager to make use of the
Kosovo precedent for their own benefit, Russia does
not want to be faced with a dilemma of whether or not
to recognize their independence yet.
Sergei Karaganov, deputy director of the Russian
Academy of Sciences' Institute of Europe, believes
that both options are undesirable for Russia at the
moment.
The United States and some European nations probably
want to turn the Kosovo page at any rate, because they
need to prove that the de-facto isolation of Kosovo by
NATO bombs was the right thing to do, the expert said.
They are also eager to take the political logic and
pattern of the 1990s, in which the U.S. and NATO,
believed to have won the Cold War, could dictate their
terms, into the next century.
However, the expert said, the arrogance of force shown
lately by the U.S. has resulted in the Iraq fiasco and
all but led to WWIII, which would inevitably have
followed any attack on Iran.
Seeing that Russia's spirit was not to be broken, the
European Union, which was slowly pulling itself out of
a crisis through the Lisbon agreement, decided that
preserving the fragile unity was more important than
recognizing a criminal republic.
European capitals are also aware that the latter will
be fraught with additional intractable problems, as
they will have to restore Kosovo and make efforts to
prevent the emergence of a great and powerful Albania.
Russia is in no hurry, and has no reason to cede its
positions, which are almost perfect from the political
and moral standpoints, Karaganov said.
So is there a solution? There certainly is, and
incidentally more than one. The first option for the
West is to try and persuade Serbia to change its
position by offering it a package of economic and
political privileges which would suit the majority of
the Serbs and would come across as an apology and
reparation for the damage done by the war unleashed by
NATO.
Another option, according to Karaganov, is to offer a
package of privileges along with the annexation of
parts of Kosovo where Serbian population prevails to
Serbia, possibly along with some other territories.
If Serbia agrees to one of the options and recognizes
Kosovo's independence, international law will be
observed, and Russia and China will have to lift their
vetos in the UN Security Council, satisfied by at
least a moral victory.
But Russia has in any case won a small foreign
political victory by proving it is strong enough to
fight unilateral and unlawful decisions, Karaganov
concluded.
Serbian News Network - SNN
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