World reaction: Russia condemns declaration
Reuters
Published: February 17, 2008
LONDON: Russia backed its ally Serbia on Sunday in condemning Kosovo’s
declaration of independence and called for the United Nations to annul
the move, which the Serbian prime minister said had been accomplished
to further U.S. military goals.
The immediate U.S. response to the long-anticipated decision to
formally split from Serbia was muted by comparison, with the State
Department saying it had noted the declaration and was "reviewing the
issue and discussing the matter with its European partners."
It called on all parties to "exercise the utmost restraint and to
refrain from any provocative act."
Germany also noted the declaration and "emphatically rejected any form
of violence," the Foreign Ministry said.
But the stage was set for tense diplomatic sessions over the latest
turn in the long and bloody break-up of Yugoslavia.
The West supports the demand of Kosovo’s 2 million ethnic Albanians for
their own state, nine years after NATO went to war to protect them from
Serbian forces. The United States and most EU members are expected to
quickly recognize Kosovo.
Russia says a unilateral independence declaration by Kosovo is illegal
and the council should oppose it and demand more talks between the
ethnic Albanians and Belgrade.
The vote in favor of independence had been expected.
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci read out a text in a Parliament formed of
leaders of Kosovo’s 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, declaring an
independent Kosovo.
The Parliament, which includes former guerrillas who fought for
independence in a 1998-99 war that claimed about 10,000 civilian lives,
approved the declaration 109-0. Eleven ethnic minority deputies,
including Serbs, were absent.
Minutes after the vote in Pristina, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica
of Serbia branded the southern region "a false state" in a televised
address from Belgrade.
He said Kosovo was propped up unlawfully by the United States, which
was "ready to violate the international order for its own military
interests."
The Russian response was almost as swift. It called for immediate UN
Security Council consultations on Sunday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement urging the United
Nations to annul the declaration and warned of the risk of an
escalation in ethnic violence in the region.
"We expect the UN mission and NATO-led forces in Kosovo to take
immediate action to carry out their mandate," the statement said,
"including the annulling of the decisions of Pristina’s self-governing
organs and the taking of tough administrative measures against them."
"The decisions by the Kosovo leadership create the risk of an
escalation of tension and inter-ethnic violence in the province and of
new conflict in the Balkans," the ministry said.
NATO said it would continue to provide security in Kosovo, and deal
firmly with any violence.
"All parties should recognize that KFOR will continue to fulfill its
responsibility for a safe and secure environment throughout the
territory of Kosovo," the NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer, said in a statement. KFOR is the UN security force in Kosovo.