Burns surprised by Russian veto announcement

Burns surprised by Russian veto announcement

“I cannot believe that a permanent member of the Security Council is threatening to veto even though we have not seen Ahtisaari’s proposal yet,” the U.S. undersecretary of state said.

Burns said that the Russian ambassador “might have been misquoted,” and added that he is “very surprised” to hear “something like that.”

Such statements “are not constructive”

American ambassador to Serbia, Michael Polt, shared the State Department’s worry regarding the possibility of Russia vetoing a final status solution for Kosovo, adding that such statements are not constructive.

He said that he has not talked to Alekseyev about the situation yet.

“We have to be very careful and see what was really said, and that is that Russia will use its influence to react against something that infringes on its interests. That is a completely natural statement because Russia takes care of its own interests.” Polt said.

“But, as I said earlier, Russia is a very constructive member of the Contact Group, where we will cooperate to find a solution for Kosovo which is acceptable for the citizens of Kosovo and we wish to work together with Russia to find such a solution.” Polt said.