Lavrov denies Russia drafting Kosovo resolution

Lavrov denies Russia drafting Kosovo resolution

Even though Monday’s EU-Russia meeting was earlier announced as an attempt to convince Russia to back Ahtisaari’s plan for Kosovo, the Russian foreign minister and the EU ministerial troika, including German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, and EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn, did not confirm that any agreement was reached.

Nonetheless, Lavrov rebuffed Italian foreign minister Massimo D’Alema’s claims that Russia was preparing its own draft resolution on Kosovo.

When asked whether the EU-Russia summit due to take place on May 18 would see a solution on Kosovo, Massimo D’Alema replied it was “practically impossible for that to happen.”

“It would be a lengthy process. We support Ahtisaari, but Russia is not flexible on the issue. Moscow has already started drafting its own Kosovo resolution in opposition to Ahtisaari’s plan,” D’Alema said Monday in Luxembourg.

“We are working to solve the issue within the UN Resolution 1244 adopted in 1999, as its implementation would enable fresh negotiations,” the Russian foreign minister said in response, stressing that the UN mission would arrive in Belgrade and Priština later this week to gain a “first-hand insight into the resolution’s implementation."

"We need a stable resolution," he said. "We shouldn't plant a delayed action land mine under the Kosovo process," the Russian foreign minister told reporters.

"There should be no unilateral efforts to impose solutions because these Balkan nations need to live together in the future," Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister argued that the decision on Kosovo’s final status had to garner the support of all sides, as “new destabilization that could occur in the case of an unilaterally imposed solution must be prevented.”

He also said that ahead of any conclusions, the reasons “why the UN Resolution 1244 was not being implemented in certain key elements, particularly those pertaining to minority rights protection and the return of refugees”, had to be seen.

German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed that the future status of Kosovo “must be a guarantee of peace and stability in the region”, underlining that Serbia must be involved in the process since it remained “the EU’s central partner in the settlement of the Kosovo issue.”