Lavrov: Kosovo's could drag Europe back 20 April 2008 | 10:41 | Source: Tanjug MOSCOW -- The EU's internal development and foreign policy are of a different orientation, a practice highlighted by Kosovo, Segei Lavrov says. The current situation regarding the province, 'which causes dissatisfaction, is an example of that division", the Russian foreign minister clarified in an interview for the Russian weekly Profil. In an article to be published Monday, Lavrov said that under the conditions of strengthening of nationalism and separatism, and a "lower price of separation", when transfer of authorization from central bodies to regional and local level turns into disintegration, a possibility of Europe being "dragged back into the past and a fragmentation of states, rather than the European Union turning into a Europe of regions" could not be ruled out. "Together with separatism, nationalist elements will drag Europe back, to the 'traditional' past. On that level, the absolutization of Kosovo's sovereignty contributes to disturbances within Europe," he believes. According to Lavrov, some states have understood this, and behave consistently, refusing to recognize Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence.
