Worked like a C

Serbs and Albanians came to Vienna, but did not reach an agreement

Negotiations between the delegations of Serbia and the Kosovo region resumed yesterday in Vienna after a six-month break . However, they had little in common with the classical negotiation process. The special representative of the Russian Foreign Minister for the Balkans, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, the White House special envoy for the Kosovo settlement, Frank Wiesner, and the German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger representing the EU, as part of the mediation troika, carried out double work. They met separately with the delegations of Belgrade and Pristina and listened to their harsh and opposing arguments, without being able to organize even a correspondence debate. The only concrete result can be considered Mr. Ischinger's statement that the parties agreed to “avoid actions and statements that could jeopardize the negotiation process.”

Of course, no one expected that Serbian officials and representatives of the Kosovo authorities would immediately find common ground. However, the reality of the first round of negotiations was even more disappointing. The two delegations not only did not sit at the same table and did not go out to journalists together, but tried to avoid even being in the building of the Austrian Foreign Ministry at the same time. By 9 a.m. local time, a very representative delegation of Kosovo Albanians arrived at Ballhausplatz. It included Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, Speaker of the Assembly (Parliament) Kol Berisha, Prime Minister Agim Ceku and opposition representatives Hashim Thaci and Veton Surroi. The Albanians informed the mediators of their unshakable desire to see Kosovo independent and immediately departed. They explained the rush with a great desire to be sure to participate in the farewell events of the commander of the KFOR peacekeeping forces, German General Roland Kater. In accordance with the principle of rotation, he leaves his post on September 1. However, according to Vremya Novostei, the Kosovo Albanians were motivated primarily by their reluctance to intersect with the Serbian delegation in Vienna.

The Serbian side acted differently. Despite criticism from the radical opposition, Serbian President and Prime Minister Boris Tadic and Vojislav Kostunica initially decided not to go to Vienna. They said the first round of negotiations was "technical in nature." Prime Minister Kostunica spoke about Kosovo just yesterday at a meeting of the Serbian cabinet. He stated that “the Serbian government managed to avoid the danger associated with the theoretically possible adoption by the UN Security Council of a resolution on the separation of Kosovo from Serbia,” and called this fact “the result of the joint efforts of Serbia and Russia.”

Belgrade sent Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Slobodan Samardzic to the Austrian capital. They met with the “troika” yesterday afternoon and confirmed their categorical rejection of the region’s independence.

Neither the Serbs nor the Albanians initially expected anything “breakthrough” from yesterday’s meetings. Prime Minister Ceku told the mediators that Pristina would unilaterally declare Kosovo's independence if the current negotiations "do not open the way" to it. He called on the international community to “lay the foundations of mature, stable relations between independent neighbors” in the person of Kosovo and Serbia. And President Sejdiu advised the Serbs to give up their dreams of Kosovo as the cradle of Serbian statehood: “Belgrade needs to understand that it is easier for it to renounce its claims once and for all.”

The intransigence of the parties may prompt the international community to divide Kosovo. The central and southern regions of the region will then go to the Albanians, and the northern ones to the Serbs. On the eve of the current negotiations, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxim Verhagen cautiously spoke out for this scenario. While on a visit to Kosovo on Wednesday, he answered a journalist’s question about dividing the region along ethnic lines: “If both sides agree on an acceptable and feasible solution, then Holland will of course support it, including unconventional solutions.” Agim Cheku reacted harshly: “Partition is not a solution. We will not negotiate for division. There is no basis for the division of Kosovo." Yesterday, members of the Albanian delegation said that, in their opinion, the troika had “reaffirmed their commitment to the principle of Kosovo’s territorial integrity.” And Wolfgang Ischinger reported that the topic of partition “was not raised by either side.”

However, the head of the Center for the Study of the Contemporary Balkan Crisis of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences Elena Guskova, calls not to rush into forecasts. “The very fact that the international community has lifted the taboo on the idea of ​​partitioning Kosovo already marks great progress in the negotiation process,” she said in an interview with Vremya Novostey. Ms. Guskova recalled: “A year and a half ago, the international Contact Group consisting of Russia, the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and France generally forbade consideration of a number of issues related to the final status of Kosovo. In addition to the division of the region, this black list also included the return of Kosovo to the status of 1999, when the region was both legally and actually under the control of Belgrade.” “As for the partition of Kosovo, this option deserves careful study. After all, it would at least allow peace to be maintained in the region, as happened on the island of Cyprus, divided between Greeks and Turks,” the expert believes.

Petr ISKENDEROV