Contact Group to discuss Kosovo

Contact Group to discuss Kosovo

Officials from all Contact Group countries, except Russia, will participate in the meeting, including the U.S., the UK, Germany, France and Italy.

The French Foreign Ministry said that Russia did not offer any formal explanation for its absence, but the ministry’s representatives said they were certain that Russia would be present at the next Contact Group meeting.

Philippe Moreaux Defarge of Paris-based Institute for International Relations said Moscow’s decision not to attend the meeting was not surprising.

“Russia’s absence today did not come as a major surprise. Over the last several weeks Moscow assumed a very decisive position against Kosovo’s independence. By not participating in the Paris meeting today, Russia wants to show how much importance it assigns to the issue and confirm it would not agree to independence,” Moreaux Defarge said.

U.S.: Russian position on Kosovo isolated

The U.S. can only negotiate the date when Kosovo should become independent, and not whether it should happen or not, Nicholas Burns has said.

U.S. Undersecretary of State for political affairs Nicholas Burns stated Monday in Athens that the ongoing debate in the UN Security Council revolved around a possible resolution allowing for an interim period dedicated to negotiations, something he said had Washington's support, “on the condition that independence follows for the province.”

“We would agree to continue negotiations only if the independence remained the end result. If not, to renew the process after 18 months of talks and so as to fall short of granting Kosovo statehood makes no sense to us,” Burns stressed.

He added that 11 out of 15 Council members currently wanted a vote on the resolution to be held "now," while noting towards the end of his comments that Russia "was quite isolated" on the issue.

Earlier, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that “no on wants to see a veto” in the United Nations Security Council, but could not say precisely when the Kosovo status solution would be solved.

“No one wants to see the region descend into violence again. Russia has a different stance regarding the Kosovo question and we are working with them to try and get past the different positions on this question. We have not achieved this yet, but discussions are on-going,” McCormack said.

He did not wish to say what the U.S. would do if Russia were to use its veto powers, stating that “everyone wants to see things move forward," and that "everyone wants the Kosovo solution to be found within the framework of the UN Security Council."

Ban Ki-moon: UN to approve Ahtisaari plan

“It is essential that the UN Security Council decisively and justly approve UN Special Kosovo Envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan for the future status of Kosovo,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated Monday in New York.

“We should not lose any more time when it comes to passing the decision,” he told the press, adding that the consultations in the council on the issue were “well underway.”