Russia slams US 'cynicism' over Kosovo <http://www.tolerance.ca/Photo.aspx?ArtID=9255&ID=52371&L=en> AFP - Robert Atanasovski* <http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=9255&L=en#DescPhoto1> (Larger <http://www.tolerance.ca/Photo.aspx?ArtID=9255&ID=52371&L=en> image) BELGRADE - Moscow accused Washington of seeking to humiliate Serbia over Kosovo ahead of a visit Monday to Belgrade by Russian Deputy Prime Minister and presidential hopeful Dmitri Medvedev. Russia, which has been Belgrade's staunchest ally in opposing Kosovo's declaration of independence a week ago, said Sunday that US backing for the breakaway region was an act of "flagrant cynicism". "Is it not cynical to openly humiliate the Serbian people and tie Belgrade's Euro-Atlantic prospects to their agreeing to Serbia's dismemberment?" the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The statement followed a comment by US Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns that Russia was only aggravating tensions over the Kosovo issue. Medvedev is due to arrive in the Serbian capital on Monday together with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. They are scheduled to hold talks with Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. They will be the first international leaders to visit since a mass rally in Belgrade on Thursday against Kosovo independence turned violent, with protestors setting fire to a section of the US embassy and attacking several other foreign missions. While regretting the violence, Moscow argued that those nations supporting the Kosovo split should have foreseen an angry Serb backlash. "The allies are coming," the popular Serbian daily Vecernje Novosti said of the Medvedev visit. DDP/AFP - Michael Gottschalk** <http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=9255&L=en#DescPhoto52372> (Larger <http://www.tolerance.ca/Photo.aspx?ArtID=9255&ID=52372&L=en> image) As well as being in agreement on Kosovo, economic relations between Belgrade and Moscow have recently improved, with Russian state gas giant Gazprom buying Serbia's main oil company NIS last month. The two countries have signed two other deals, one on the construction of an underground gas reservoir and the other on building a pipeline through Serbia to pump Russian gas to western Europe. As well as the United States, 23 of the 27 EU member states have so far backed Kosovo's independence, either formally recognising it or declaring their intention to do so. Cyprus, Romania and Spain have explicitly refused to do either. Kostunica called on the United States to "annul" its recognition and confirm Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo, state television RTS reported Sunday. "By continuing with the politics of force, there will be only a deepening of the crisis, which has shaken the foundations of the world order and threatened to endanger peace and stability, not only in the Balkans," Kostunica warned. Serbia argues that Kosovo's secession violates UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which was adopted at the end of Kosovo's 1998-1999 war and put the disputed province under UN administration while retaining Serbian sovereignty. It also sees the EU plan to send a 2,000-strong mission to train and mentor police, judges and customs officials in Kosovo as a further violation of the same resolution. © <http://www.tolerance.ca/Droits.aspx?ID=1&L=en> AFP 2008 - Sunday, February 24, 2008 14h30 GMT
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