"Rice will press Russia on Kosovo"
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will press Russia on Kosovo when she visits Moscow next month, an official says.
Wednesday, 25.04.2007.
09:47
"Rice will press Russia on Kosovo"
“It is well known that the Russian government has some real reservations about Ahtisaari's plan for supervised independence for Kosovo,” McCormack said.But he asserted that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov “had not actually threatened a Russian veto of the scheme”, adding that “the United States and other Security Council powers were striving to take Moscow's concerns into account.”
As part of the initiative, Rice will have "extended discussions" on the issue with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a visit to the Russian capital in mid-May, he said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov said Tuesday the plan authored by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari was unacceptable because of Serbian opposition and that the proposal "will not pass at the UN Security Council.”
"The threat of a veto should push the two sides to find a mutually acceptable compromises," ITAR-TASS news agency reported him as saying.
Rice will travel to Moscow during a tour which will also take her to the Middle East for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, he said, but no specific dates for the tour have been set.
The secretary will also see Lavrov Thursday in Oslo on the sidelines of a foreign ministers' meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, though it is unlikely they will have time for detailed bilateral talks then, McCormack said.
McCormack warned Tuesday that “delaying a resolution on the issue of Kosovo's status could lead to instability.”
"The current situation is untenable and it needs to come to some resolution," he said.
"We are working to try to accommodate the concerns of the Russians and the Serbian government as well, but it's time to try to craft a solution that will be durable over time," he said.
"We as well as others in the Security Council are working to try to take their concerns into account," McCormack concluded.
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