Koštunica to meet Putin

Koštunica to meet Putin

One day after the G8 summit ended in Germany without an agreement over Kosovo, Beta news agency reported its Russian diplomatic sources as saying that the postponement of the UN vote on a new Kosovo resolution was a major achievement on Putin’s part.

“It was the maximum Russia could do at the moment. Putin put major effort to influence the West’s position according to which a new resolution on Kosovo had to be adopted as soon as possible,” Beta quoted its sources.

Koštunica said in an interview with the Russian news agency Itar-Tass that consultations with President Putin would be of great importance, not just for Serbia, adding that during the meeting he intends to launch new ideas testifying to "Serbia’s openness for new negotiations on Kosovo."

“Belgrade has fresh ideas that will provide a way to get out of the dead-end without threatening peace and stability and the territorial integrity of the Serbian state,” Koštunica said.

“As I pointed out several times, particularly with officials who do not share the same positions, the solution to the Kosovo issue is not a difficult task as principles of international law simply need to be respected,” he said.

He noted that if those principles and the UN Charter are ignored, a compromise can hardly be achieved.

“The creation of another Albanian state in the Balkans could cause a chain reaction, which will result in the creation of other states, particularly in Europe. The Old World is not unanimous about the Kosovo problem, which creates a division line between European states. Only Washington has no problems; everything is clear to them,” he stressed.

Koštunica said that now was the crucial moment in solving the Kosovo issue and recalled that negotiations led by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari yielded no result mostly because Ahtisaari was "unwilling to reach a compromise."

According to Ahtisaari, imposing a solution on one side would have been a way out, which made negotiations more difficult, Koštunica said.

“The fact that a national minority has compact residence on the Serbian territory does not give this minority the right to create its own state. There are many Albanians in countries bordering on Serbia, such as Montenegro and Macedonia,” he said.

“The essence of our proposal is maximum possible autonomy for Kosovo within Serbia. Our plan of a controllable autonomy is actually a response to Ahtisaari’s plan that recommends a controllable independence. Kosovo should enjoy the maximum possible degree of autonomy, and that autonomy may be controlled by the international community,” Koštunica said.