UN Security Council discussed Kosovo

Russia advocates gradualism and rejects blackmail

The discussion in the Security Council of the next report of the head of the UN Mission in Kosovo, Joachim Rücker, on Thursday night, Moscow time, was heated. Supporters of the fastest possible solution to the Kosovo problem argued with those who see such haste as a threat to stability in the region. The leaders of the Albanian separatists of Kosovo and their Western supporters are in favor of the speedy “closure” of the Kosovo file. Opponents of independence, primarily Serbia and Russia, are in favor of gradualism and balance.

Mr. Rücker complained that the pause in the negotiation process on the status of Kosovo, announced before the parliamentary elections in Serbia on January 21, had already given rise to “obvious anxiety” in the region. Further delays will allegedly increase tensions and embolden extremists. “To overcome the feeling of uncertainty, which is a potential source of instability, the speed of the status process cannot be slowed down,” he said.

Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, expressed concern about "periodically heard threats about the possibility of mass unrest in Kosovo if a decision on the status is not made within a certain period of time." The Russian diplomat regarded this as “unacceptable blackmail of the international community or incitement addressed to radicals” and called for abandoning the “arm-twisting” tactics. According to Mr. Churkin, it is necessary to promote rapprochement between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians, and not set strict time limits.

Serbian President Boris Tadic also spoke about Kosovo yesterday. Speaking in Brussels at the ceremony of signing the agreement on the accession of Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the NATO Partnership for Peace program, he confirmed that Serbia still considers a “compromise solution excluding the independence of Kosovo” possible.

As Miroslav Jovanovic, one of the leading Serbian experts on the Kosovo problem, professor at the University of Belgrade, told Vremya Novostey, many in Serbia “count that Russia will not allow Kosovo’s independence, since such an option for self-determination could become a precedent for some Russian regions.” However, there is an opinion in Serbian society that “Russia’s position on the Kosovo settlement is initially ambiguous,” our interlocutor emphasized. According to Mr. Yovanovitch, Moscow has two options. The first is to prevent Kosovo's independence by using the veto power in the UN Security Council. “But even in this case, there is no guarantee that Kosovo will not ultimately become independent,” the expert believes. The second option is to agree to the independence of the region, but during the negotiations ensure that this decision is considered a precedent in international legal practice. “In this case, it could, if necessary, be applied to Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia or Nagorno-Karabakh,” believes VN’s interlocutor.

Petr ISKENDEROV