PRISHTINA’S STANCE ON KOSOVO IS UNCONSTRUCTIVE – RUSSIAN FM

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 19 2006

STRASBOURG, May 19 (RIA Novosti) – The Kosovan leadership’s
intransigent attitude is delaying a solution over the status of the
troubled Balkan territory, Russia’s foreign minister said Friday.

Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a news conference in Strasbourg, said:
“The position of Prishtina’s leadership, which is insisting on the
unequivocal independence of Kosovo, is very unconstructive.”

Lavrov said a unilateral approach should not be taken to talks on
Kosovo, and that negotiations must be held through the UN and the
Contact Group.

Talks on the UN-administered territory’s status should be concluded by
the end of the year, a view that is shared by the six-nation Contact
Group – the U.S., Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy –
Lavrov said.

Earlier, some Russian politicians expressed concern that independence
for Kosovo would create a precedent for recognition of breakaway
regions in the former Soviet Union.

Moldova is dealing with a separatist regime in Transdnestr, while
Georgia has two breakaway regions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Nagorny Karabakh, a largely ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan,
has long been a source of friction between the two Caucasus states.

Formally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since
1999, following a NATO military campaign to drive out Yugoslav forces
accused of atrocities against Albanian civilians.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress