Mladić as a bargaining chip

Mladić as a bargaining chip

The newspaper’s source close to the top Serbian officials claims that Tadić’s American hosts stressed Mladić must be delivered to the Hague by mid-November, when Martti Ahtissari is expected to suggest the Kosovo final status solution to the UN Security Council.

Does Kosovo top Moscow’s agenda?

According to Alexandar Pikayev of the Moscow Institute for economic and international relations, it is not likely that Russia will veto the Kosovo status resolution, but should Kosovo achieve independence, one of Russian options will be to block its UN membership bid. The Russian position has been known for a long time, and it comes down to that Contact Group and UN SC member not objecting to Kosovo’s independence. What seems to be behind Russian officials’ statements is a diplomatic game, since Russia conditioned Kosovo’s independence with the US and the international community’s acceptance to make the Kosov solution a universal principle. Russia needs this trade-off in order to secure the interests of the 20 million Russians left outside its borders after the USSR collapsed.

“The issue of Kosovo status is very indicative to Russia. In case Kosovo achieves independence and secedes from Serbia, this could be a way to solve problems in Ossetia, Abkhazia, Georgia and Pridniestrovlie in Moldavia”, former Information minister and New Russian Word editor Sergei Grizunov says. He adds that European borders continue to be revised.

Moscow Economic Institute’s Sergei Romanenko believes Kosovo and the Balkans not to be the Russian foreign policy priorities and sees no reason for Russia to further complicate its relations with Europe and the U.S. “I suppose Russia could threaten with a veto, but it still won’t vote against the resolution”, Romanenko concluded.

Glas Javnosti daily reports that official Moscow still intends to protect Serbia’s interests. After Putin’s warning to the international community, Russian foreign ministry has announced that Russia will not stand by if the Contact Group attempts to circumvent UN Security Council and tries to introduce Kosovo’s independence by adopting a new resolution.

Russian Information Service deputy director Andrei Krivtov says in case the Contact Group finds a way to establish Kosovo’s independence, Russia will turn to President Tadić and hear what he has to say. “If he says Kosovo should be granted independence, Russia will respect that. If, however, he rejects it, we want to see an agreement that will meet Serbian interests and secure a long-term, permanent solution”, Krivtov said.