"Russia will veto any imposed solution"

Russia will veto any solution in the Security Council for Kosovo’s status not based on a compromise. Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko, Russia’s envoy to the Contact Group mediating Troika, said that Russia would block any solution not based on an agreement between Belgrade and Pristina. "Russia will veto any imposed solution" He also labeled as “bizarre” a recent statement by British Minister for Europe Jim Murphy calling for Moscow’s right to veto to be revoked in the event of a Kosovo declaration of independence. “How can this be denied to Russia, which is a permanent Security Council member and has a right to it,” wondered the Russian diplomat. “We have legitimately announced that we will not agree to any Security Council decision not based on a compromise,” he said. Botsan-Kharchenko also explained that, at the next Security Council session on January 16, at issue would be the UN mission’s report on Kosovo, and that “the project of resolution would not be discussed.” Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko (FoNet, archive) Former U.S. military chief warns against Kosovo independence Admiral James Lyons, a former senior US military representative to the UN and deputy chief of naval operations, where he was principal adviser on all Joint Chiefs of Staff matters, warned yesterday that a unilateral declaration of independence by the Kosovo Albanians would be an act with unforeseeable repercussions, which would cause an unnecessary crisis between the U.S. and Russia. “I do not see how the U.S. or the EU can benefit, either in a strategic, political, or any other sense, by supporting Kosovo independence, and I do not understand the reasons why the Bush administration is trying to resolve the problem which the Clinton Administration left unresolved,” the admiral told Voice of America. He maintains that Russia's strong support for Serbia indicates that, for Russia, Kosovo represents an important foreign-policy issue and some kind of a test. To avert a crisis, Lyons believes that, first of all, it is necessary to reconsider the U.S.’s position on the matter, adding there were a number of theories for solving the problem, including a potential partition of Kosovo giving a high degree of autonomy to the remainder of the province, as well as Serbia’s accelerated membership of the EU in exchange for Kosovo’s independence which Belgrade has thus far rejected.

"Russia will veto any imposed solution"

He also labeled as “bizarre” a recent statement by British Minister for Europe Jim Murphy calling for Moscow’s right to veto to be revoked in the event of a Kosovo declaration of independence.

“How can this be denied to Russia, which is a permanent Security Council member and has a right to it,” wondered the Russian diplomat.

“We have legitimately announced that we will not agree to any Security Council decision not based on a compromise,” he said.

Botsan-Kharchenko also explained that, at the next Security Council session on January 16, at issue would be the UN mission’s report on Kosovo, and that “the project of resolution would not be discussed.”

Former U.S. military chief warns against Kosovo independence

Admiral James Lyons, a former senior US military representative to the UN and deputy chief of naval operations, where he was principal adviser on all Joint Chiefs of Staff matters, warned yesterday that a unilateral declaration of independence by the Kosovo Albanians would be an act with unforeseeable repercussions, which would cause an unnecessary crisis between the U.S. and Russia.

“I do not see how the U.S. or the EU can benefit, either in a strategic, political, or any other sense, by supporting Kosovo independence, and I do not understand the reasons why the Bush administration is trying to resolve the problem which the Clinton Administration left unresolved,” the admiral told Voice of America.

He maintains that Russia's strong support for Serbia indicates that, for Russia, Kosovo represents an important foreign-policy issue and some kind of a test.

To avert a crisis, Lyons believes that, first of all, it is necessary to reconsider the U.S.’s position on the matter, adding there were a number of theories for solving the problem, including a potential partition of Kosovo giving a high degree of autonomy to the remainder of the province, as well as Serbia’s accelerated membership of the EU in exchange for Kosovo’s independence which Belgrade has thus far rejected.