RUSSIA MIGHT VETO UN MOVE ON KOSOVO, SENIOR MP WARNS
BBC Monitoring International Reports - February 9, 2007 Friday

Text of report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Moscow, 9 February: Russia might use its veto if the question of determining Kosovo's status is raised in a hasty manner at the UN Security Council, head of the State Duma international affairs committee Konstantin Kosachev said following a meeting with the US secretary of state's special envoy for the status process in Kosovo, Frank Wisner.

Kosachev said the Americans are insisting that the establishment of Kosovo's status has entered its final stage and cannot be delayed any longer. Wisner stressed in particular that the talks on the status of Kosovo "should not be endless", and so there should be an examination of the issue at the UN Security Council no later than the end of March.

Kosachev replied that the plan submitted by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, which effectively grants independence to Kosovo, requires the agreement of both Pristina and Belgrade. "Until there is such agreement, any hasty tabling of the issue at the UN Security Council will only prompt the use of the right of veto by the Russian Federation and, possibly, by China, with extremely unpleasant consequences both for a Kosovo settlement and in the global geopolitical context," he said.

"An absolute condition for achieving progress in Kosovo would be attaining commonly accepted standards in the field of human rights and ethnic minorities, and the situation with this in the region is very far from ideal," he added.

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1036 gmt 9 Feb 07

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