RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: RESULTS OF CONSIDERATION OF KOSOVO SITUATION AT UN SECURITY COUNCIL ARE NOT PREDETERMINED
Regnum, Russia
April 3 2007
Ahtisaari’s plan derives unambiguously and categorically from necessity
of Kosovo independence despite Serbia’s position, and such approach
is inadmissible for the Russian side, Russia’s Minister of Foreign
Affairs Sergey Lavrov announced at a news conference in Yerevan
commenting on the question how non-granting of independence to Kosovo
can reflect upon other conflicts and, in particular, upon the Nagorno
Karabakh conflict.
As a REGNUM correspondent informs, according to Lavrov, results of
consideration of the Kosovo issue at the UN Security Council are not
pre-determined, and the Russian side repeatedly stressed that Russia
would back only the variant of conflict settlement that is admissible
for both sides of the conflict. "As for Kosovo projection to other
conflicts, it will, of course, happen," the minister noted. Speaking
on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, he noted again that the "conflict
is unique not from the point of view of the international law,
but grounding on the fact that all mediators not only practice
similar principles, but are absolutely united in certain details
of the conflict settlement scheme." In this connection, he noted,
regarding to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the Russian side hopes that
a decision will be found in the near future on conditions acceptable
for all the conflict parties, Lavrov concluded.
In his turn, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan shared the
idea of the unique nature of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and
noted that any conflict should be considered taking into account
its peculiarities: Nagorno Karabakh has its own peculiarities,
Kosovo its own ones. "Nagorno Karabakh is moving clearly on the way
of self-determination, no matter what settlement of other conflicts
will be," Oskanyan stressed. "Of course, a precedent is important in
international relations, but we shall consider any conflict within
its context," the Armenian minister said.