Reuters AlertNet Lite - Russia says against imposed solution for Kosovo

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Russia says against imposed solution for Kosovo

03 Nov 2006 16:54:51 GMT
Source: Reuters

BRUSSELS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Russia is against an imposed solution for Kosovo because any decision must be acceptable to all parties to work, Moscow's foreign minister said on Friday.

"It can only be a compromise, it has to be a decision which is acceptable to all parties," Sergei Lavrov told a news conference after talks with the European Union in Brussels.

An imposed top-down decision in the breakaway Serbia province would "just simply fall apart" and there was no point in taking a decision that would not be adhered to, he said.

The United Nations, which has run Kosovo for the past seven years, launched talks on Kosovo's final status in February aiming to complete them by the end of this year.

But there has been no compromise on the key issue - Kosovo's overwhelming ethnic Albanian majority wants independence while Serbia rejects this.

The United States and many European countries sympathise with the Albanians' independence aspirations and are impatient with Serbia's legalistic approach that defies the reality on the ground.

Lavrov said Russia backed U.N. mediator Martti Ahtisaari's effort to draw up a plan for Kosovo's future "as a proposal maybe which could be submitted to a party with a view to future talks ... but not necessarily as (an) ultimatum on any party."

Diplomatic sources say Ahtisaari proposes Kosovo should have the right to join world bodies normally reserved for sovereign states without using the word "independence". States would be able to recognise it and it could apply for a U.N. seat.

After saying countries which recognised an independent Kosovo would suffer consequences in their relations with Serbia, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav said not only his coalition but "every future Serbian government" would refuse to accept it.

Lavrov said that while the Contact Group of Kosovo mediators -- Russia, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy -- had said no party could block the negotiating process, it had also called for a negotiated settlement acceptable to all.

"I can't really see how we can take this any further -- we have to have a compromise otherwise we won't have a decision," Lavrov said. "All of the members of the Contact Group will have to keep account of what has been agreed there."

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Last updated:Fri Nov 3 16:57:46 2006