Ten pages on the status of Kosovo

The UN Security Council began the first closed consultations on a new draft resolution on the status of Kosovo developed by the United States, France and Great Britain. According to Vremya Novostei information received from New York, yesterday at the start of consultations the draft resolution had not even been officially submitted to the Security Council, and its members were familiarizing themselves with the unofficial version. Russia received this ten-page document a week ago. The co-authors of the project deliberately accelerated the discussion, although it was not initially planned for Monday.

Russia does not agree with the “predetermined independence of Kosovo” contained in the updated draft. And this follows from the fact that the project is based on the same plan of the special representative of the UN Secretary General Martti Ahtisaari to grant the Serbian autonomous region of Kosovo limited independence against the will of Belgrade. The other day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reaffirmed “Moscow’s principled position in favor of continuing to search for a negotiated solution to the Kosovo problem.” The Kosovars call on the West to “not take into account Russia’s position.” “Russia cannot veto the historical processes taking place in Europe,” said the representative of the Kosovo Albanians at the negotiations, Mr. Veton Suroy. But Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic expressed confidence that the new draft resolution will not be adopted by the Security Council, and yesterday reaffirmed Belgrade’s readiness to continue negotiations with Pristina.

Katerina Labetskaya