Translated material
Europe left the Troika
To independently decide the fate of the Serbian region
Kosovo is a problem that cannot be solved either in Washington or Moscow. After yesterday’s termination of the mandate of the international “troika” (USA, EU and Russia) on a settlement in Kosovo, the European Union adheres to this position. This was stated by German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger, who represented the EU in the “troika” of international mediators in negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo Albanians on the future status of Kosovo. He spoke at the German Society for Foreign Policy in Berlin, where he outlined a European view of the future of the region.At the end of last week, at the EU summit in Brussels, it was decided that in the medium term the European Union will take over peacekeeping tasks in Kosovo, now assigned to the UN. This will be the EU's largest security operation. According to Wolfgang Ischinger, who is also the German ambassador to the UK, granting independence to Kosovo will not cause a “domino effect” either in Europe or beyond, since the situation in the province is “legally and politically unique.”
The European Union wants to send a mission of 1,800 police officers and lawyers to Kosovo, who will help Pristina during the transition of governance functions in the region from the UN to local authorities. Russia has already stated that it considers the decision to send an EU mission to Kosovo without the approval of the UN Security Council illegal and intends to discuss this issue at a Security Council meeting on December 19. This was announced yesterday by the special representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry for the Balkans, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, who represented Moscow in the troika. “The European Union believes that resolution 1244 allows such a step to be taken, but this is not the case. I don’t understand at all how one can act in circumvention of the UN resolution. We intend to raise the issue at a Security Council meeting about how the international presence in Kosovo is being reformatted,” - - the Russian diplomat pointed out.
Ischinger believes that Russia's attempt to insist on the adoption of a new UN resolution on Kosovo is "unacceptable." He considers a realistic scenario in which, after Kosovo declares independence, Belgrade will declare this step contrary to international legal acts and will not recognize it. This will not affect the EU's actions in any way. “We must respect the opinion of the Serbian leadership,” noted Mr. Ischinger. “But we will be forced to maintain the firmness of our position and ensure compliance with the demarcation lines.”
For Wolfgang Ischinger, yesterday's performance marked the end of his 120-day mission as part of the Troika. He emphasized that resolving the Kosovo problem is “an indicator of the joint capacity of Europeans.” According to him, “it was clear from the very beginning that the “troika” was trying to do the impossible, to find the “squaring of the circle.” Nevertheless, a lot of effort was made. “We not only shook the air,” noted Ischinger. - We conducted intensive negotiations with both sides of the conflict. It was clear that as a result we would not achieve the desired result. And Russian Minister Lavrov took the same approach.”
The Troika members, according to the German diplomat, did everything possible. On Ischinger’s initiative, an attempt was made to develop a joint document between the leadership of the Serbs and Albanians, which would be built on the model of the 1972 agreement on the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. According to Ischinger, the failure of the negotiations should be blamed not on the United States, but on Russia, which “blindly” supported the Serbs on all issues. According to him, the Europeans are now united in their approach to the Kosovo problem, and the Americans support them in this: “We are negotiating with the Albanians on a model for establishing independence in Kosovo. It is important for us to achieve such a situation that the Albanians agree to control by the EU, NATO and the UN.”
Wolfgang Ischinger considers the prospect of EU membership for “both sides” – Belgrade and Pristina – realistic. The absence of interethnic conflicts is one of the important prerequisites for this. “The door to the EU is already ajar for Serbs. Perhaps it should have been opened even wider. But this cannot be done without preconditions,” notes Mr. Ischinger, making it clear that for every step towards EU membership, Serbs and Albanians will have to pay with good behavior. He believes that the main thing in the Balkans “is to overcome the contradictions in the minds of the Serbs and Albanians,” the only common idea for which could be joining the EU.
There are "serious imbalances" in Kosovo
Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry published a tough statement on the Kosovo settlement. On Smolenskaya Square they believe that the situation has “reached a critical point.” Moscow invited the West to “keep the settlement process within the international legal framework, refrain from hasty decisions” and develop a new “road map” for resolving the Kosovo problem, taking into account “the well-founded interests of the parties and the priorities of the leading international factors in the Kosovo settlement.” The Foreign Ministry points to “serious distortions in the Kosovo settlement” - to Washington and a number of EU capitals’ support for Pristina’s intentions to unilaterally declare Kosovo’s independence in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, to the attempts of the patrons of Kosovo separatism to “turn this resolution inside out”, to their “backstage maneuvers” around the UN leadership to legitimize the free interpretation of resolution 1244, which only the UN Security Council has the right to interpret.
Belgrade's negotiations with Kosovo Albanian leaders "would have been more impressive" if Pristina had not received "destructive signals from some capitals about support for the idea of Kosovo independence." Russia stands for the continuation of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and is “open to discussing its format and modalities.” The Russian Foreign Ministry believes that “there is a chance of reaching a resolution in the future,” but “someone would like to ruin the dialogue as quickly as possible in order to fulfill their promises to the Kosovo separatists.” Katerina LABETSKAYA