RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER NOT CONVINCED BY NEW UN DRAFT RESOLUTION ON KOSOVO
BBC Monitoring International Reports - July 12, 2007, Thursday

Excerpt from report by Russian news agency RIA Novosti

Gorki-8 (Moscow Region), 12 July: The Ahtisaari plan to grant Kosovo independence is hiding behind the fine words the new draft resolution on Kosovo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

"The problem of predermining Kosovo's independence has not been taken off the agenda. Behind diplomatic rhetoric there is the conclusion that after the talks the Ahtisaari plan comes into force," Lavrov told journalists after his talks with the foreign minister of Ghana. Last night France and Great Britain circulated a new draft resolution at the UN which does not provide for an automatic granting of the status of independence to Kosovo after 120 days of talks.

"The draft resolution is quite a big document, it has a couple of appendixes and we shall study them quickly," Lavrov said.

"A positive element in it is that the draft resolution calls for the continuation of the talks and also the fact that it rules out and does not mention the granting of independence to Kosovo automatically after the period of the talks expires. This period is four months and, in my view, it is somewhat not enough," Lavrov said.

"But the problem is that predetermining Kosovo's independence has not been taken off the agenda," the minister said.

Lavrov defined Russia's position on the draft resolution of the UN Security Council.

"We can support only a draft resolution that would suit both sides. But at the moment we cannot see such a resolution," the minister said.

Source: RIA Novosti, Moscow, in Russian 1641 gmt 12 Jul 07

Copyright 2007 Financial Times Information
Copyright 2007 BBC Monitoring Service , Source: The Financial Times Limited

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