RUSSIA’S LAVROV POINTS TO ILLEGITIMACY OF ATTEMPTS TO DELIVER ARMY HARDWARE TO KOSOVO

RUSSIA’S LAVROV POINTS TO ILLEGITIMACY OF ATTEMPTS TO DELIVER ARMY HARDWARE TO KOSOVO

photo EPARussia suggests that its own and NATO emissaries meet in emergency session next Friday to discuss the U.S. plans to deliver army hardware to Kosovo. The foreign minister of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, has told newsmen in Tel-Aviv that such plans do little for the return of the regional situation to normal. Moreover, they are illegitimate and they contradict resolution 1244 of the Security Council of the United Nations.

Asked about the Russian view of the U.S. plans to deliver army hardware to the separatist government of Kosovo, Lavrov reminded newsmen that the international decisions on Kosovo left no room for moves to build a Kosovar army. It is only for the needs of the international contingent, which had arrived in Kosovo with a Security Council mandate, that army hardware could be delivered to that highly explosive part of the world. All other attempts to ship army hardware to Kosovo encouraged the separatists and made the situation even less stable. Foreign minister Lavrov told newsmen that –

I would not like to believe that the main aim of these arms deliveries is to force the Serbs and other members of the national minorities to stay within the frameworks of an illegally proclaimed state.

The U.S. refer to Ahtisaari`s plan when insist on an arms shipment for Kosovo. But the plan was rejected by the UN Security Council since it allowed a unilateral proclamation of Kosovo’s independence and thus violated Serbia’s territorial integrity. According to this quasi-plan, Pristina has the right to form its own 2,500 member army. Washington dares to say that the delivery of arms to Kosovo will “strengthen U.S. security and promote peace in the world”. According to the U.S., it looks as if Serbia threatened the American security.

So an urgent meeting of the NATO-Russia Council seems to be the only possible way to resolve the crisis. The responsibility for peace in Kosovo rests on NATO. According to Moscow’s representative to the Alliance, Dmitry Rogozin, the block evidently is unable to cope with the burst of violence in the region. The recent unrest in Mitrovica has proved it once again. The decision to send arms to the local separatists will not only widen the gap between the Serbs and Albanians instead of making the two sides resume a peaceful dialogue and act in accordance with the international legislation.