http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-02-26-voa66.cfm
Russian, American Disagree on Kosovo's Independence
By Barry Wood
Washington
26 February 2008
US-based Russia specialist Dimitri Simes told a Washington audience Tuesday
that fundamental disagreement over Kosovo's independence from Serbia will drive
Russia and the United States even further apart. But a U.S. diplomat says there
were no other choices. VOA's Barry Wood has more.
Dimitri Simes (undated photo)
Russian scholar Dimitri Simes seldom finds himself in agreement with decision
makers in the Kremlin. But on Kosovo he is siding with Moscow. By actively
promoting Kosovo's independence and sidestepping the United Nations, Simes
says, Washington is violating international law.
"I think what we have done [in sponsoring and recognizing Kosovo's
independence] was wrong and counterproductive," said Simes. "And it contradicts
the Helsinki final act [1975] that we are using everyday to criticize Russia
and others on human rights violations. But the Helsinki final act, of course,
was not just about human rights but about territorial integrity of European
states."
After NATO bombing forced Serbian forces out of Kosovo in 1999, U.N. Security
Council resolution 12-44 gave the United Nations jurisdiction over the
territory.
Simes, who heads the Nixon Center-a Washington-based non-governmental agency
that examines global security issues, says the United States has acted
arbitrarily in choosing to set aside a U.N. resolution.
"Without changing this resolution, the dismembering of Serbia in no way
complies with international law," he said.
Simes says Kosovo's secession from Serbia sets a precedent.
American triumphalism, he says, is wrongly leading Washington to promote NATO
membership for Ukraine and Georgia. And most worrisome of all, he says,
Washington's disregard for Russia's opinions almost guarantees that Moscow will
not align itself with the west in opposing Iran's nuclear program.
Frank Wisner (undated photo)
Frank Wisner, the US diplomat who worked nine months with envoys from Moscow
and Brussels trying in vain to bring Kosovo's Albanians and Serbia together,
said Kosovo's declaration of independence, on February 17 closes the matter.
Wisner says he is mystified as to why Russia remains so opposed to Kosovo's
independence. He rejects the suggestion that Kosovo sets a precedent.
"Kosovo resulted from a particularly ghastly event of ethnic cleansing, of
repression and killing," said Wisner. "It resulted from a NATO intervention.
The problem resulted from the agreement of the Security Council to bring
resolution 1244."
Wisner also rejects the assertion that Washington and Brussels have violated
international law. After nine years of waiting, he said, it was time to choose.
The options were either returning Kosovo to Serbian rule, continuing the UN
administration, or independence. The latter choice, he argues, was the only
viable choice, one that not only closes the matter but promotes stability in
the Balkans and in Europe.
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