Russia lashes out at US official over "cynical" Kosovo remarks
BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union (Political) - February 24, 2008 Sunday

Text of "Commentary by the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on a question from the mass media concerning remarks about Kosovo by the US undersecretary of state, N. Burns," published on the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website on 24 February

[Question] How would you comment on remarks by the US undersecretary of state, N. Burns, about Russia's position on Kosovo?

[Commentary] The latest remarks by the US undersecretary of state, N. Burns, about Russia's position on Kosovo cannot but cause bewilderment.

While calling our policy on Kosovo matters cynical, the American diplomat does not bother to consider that that is precisely how the USA's line on the settlement looks. Do support for the Kosovo Albanian side alone, contempt for law for the sake of so-called "political expediency", and indifference to the fate of a hundred thousand Serbs who in the 21st century are effectively being driven into a ghetto not amount to flagrant cynicism?

Is it not cynical that the Serb people is being openly humiliated while Belgrade is being promised a Euro-Atlantic future if it agrees to the carve-up of Serbia? How moral is the American thesis that the Kosovo case is unique, which means that one group has a right to statehood while the other should be denied it?

No sensible person would question Russia's contribution to the Kosovo settlement. Let us recall, in particular, that a Russian peacekeeping contingent was in Kosovo as part of the Kosovo Force between 1999 and 2004, the most difficult and high-risk period. It was withdrawn from there due to our fundamental disagreement with bias favouring one side in Kosovo matters and the violation, through international presences, of mandates set by UN Security Council Resolution 1244, above all as regards guaranteeing the rights of the non-Albanian population.

Claims about "Russia's isolation" over the Kosovo issue are a clear distortion of facts. The one-sided scenario for the resolution of the problem that is being pushed through is a cause of broad concern in the world. The results of a recent discussion of this issue at the UN Security Council showed that most countries would like to see a decision based on law and compromise between Belgrade and Pristina. Support for our position is demonstrated by a recent declaration by PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] calling for the search for a negotiated outcome to continue.

We do not need to be urged, as N. Burns is trying to do, to make responsible statements on Kosovo. That is precisely what we do when we speak the truth, call a spade a spade, honestly warn about the destructive consequences of encouraging separatism, and openly point to those who, through their actions, are destroying world order.

24 February 2008

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Moscow, in Russian 24 Feb 08
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