Number of countries supporting Russia on Kosovo growing - diplomat
Itar-Tass - January 17, 2008 Thursday 3:59 AM EST

UNITED NATIONS, January 17 (Itar-Tass) - Number of member-states of the UN Security Council supporting Russia's position on Kosovo has increased, Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin said Thursday after the closure the council's meeting.

The meeting on Kosovo showed that since the beginning of January, when new rotating members took seats on the council, "our ideas and approaches are getting a greater support than in the previous composition of the council members," Churkin said.

"The factor shows it's worthwhile fighting for using all the opportunities, all the ways, and diplomatic methods" to attain a solution to the Kosovo problems, which all the parties involved in that conflict will find acceptable," he said.

The council's ten rotating members at present are Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama, the South-African Republic, Libya, Burkina Faso, Vietnam, Croatia, and Costa Rica. The last five countries began their two-year tours of activity on the council at the beginning of this month.

Editorial Note: The Belgrade daily Politika reported in a story entitled “New majority in UN SC” (January 18, 2008) that 8 out of the 15 members of the Security Council are opposed to Kosovo’s future status being determined outside of the Security Council.

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