Russian ambassador storms out of UN Security Council

Russian ambassador storms out of UN Security Council

"He was preaching for independence instead of discussing implementation of Resolution 1244 and this is very unhelpful," Churkin said.

Ruecker briefed the 15-member council on the latest developments in Kosovo after Serbian and Albanian officials failed on March 10 to agree on the future of the province.

Churkin said the UN mediators "are jumping the gun and are beginning to advocate outright independence and this is not good."

But Ruecker said he had merely briefed the council on what he called "progress" on implementing UN-set democratic standards to build "a functional democracy and market economy" in Kosovo.

And U.S. acting ambassador Alejandro Wolff rushed to Ruecker's defense saying he had given "very balanced, objective presentation. He described the situation on the ground, which is his mandate as the secretary general's special representative."

Churkin confirmed Monday that Moscow would like to see the UN special Kosovo envoy Martti Ahtissari replaced.

"This is what we are advocating," he said. "Ahtissari has been saying he thought he is at the end of the road. So the situation has to be considered. the main thing is not the personality, the main thing is to continue negotiations."

He also made it clear that any outcome in the Kosovo status talks must be "acceptable to the Serbs and of course the Albanians".

But the U.S. envoy retorted: "We have tremendous confidence in Ahtissari. He's being doing outstanding work," adding that the current deadlock was not "Ahtissari's fault".

Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu, Kosovo Coordinating Center chairwoman Sanda Rašković-Ivić, and Belgrade team coordinators Leon Kojen and Slobodan Samardžić also attend today's regular UN SC session.

Earlier, Sanda Rašković-Ivić told B92 she would dispute the UNMIK Chief’s position that the standards implementation report was positive.

“I will refer to 52 incidents that have taken place over the last three months in Kosovo, and demonstrate the lack of security and freedom of movement in Kosovo. I will stress that the situation is critical and resembles a conflict rather than a post-conflict period,” Rašković-Ivić said.

She announced she would reiterate Serbia’s position that the Kosovo status talks need to be continued. According to her, today’s UN SC session was an opportunity for Belgrade to lobby for additional negotiations on Kosovo by underlining the lack of stability in the province.

Kosovo will also be on the agenda of today’s meeting in Washington between U.S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice and the European ministerial Troika headed by Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy.

“Serbia to lobby UN SC member states”

Nenad Đurđević from the Center for Nonviolent Action said that there was indeed room for lobbying.

"However, it is only feasible in bilateral contacts between Serbia and UN Security Council member states," he said.

“We could dwell on a possibility of finding a different solution for Kosovo in comparison to that of Ahtisaari’s. However, it could never be diametrically opposed to the UN Envoy’s recommendations,” Đurđević claimed.

He argued that the continuation of Kosovo talks mediated by a new UN envoy was very unlikely to occur.

“Belgrade now assumes that the UN Security Council would not pass the new resolution on Kosovo in the near future,” Đurđević said adding that in that case, “Belgrade could have a chance to open up new negotiating channels.”