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FM ADVOCATES INCLUSIVE PROCESS TO SOLVE KOSOVO PROBLEM
RIA Novosti, Russia
April 5 2006
BRATISLAVA, April 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister said
Wednesday that talks involving all interested parties were the only
way to solve the Kosovo crisis, and that ethnic minorities should be
a central issue.
"This problem can only be resolved through talks," Sergei Lavrov
said after talks in the Slovak capital with Slovak President Ivan
Gasparovic. "Any haste in imposing things could create a very serious
precedent and affect not only this region."
He said ethnic minorities should be a central issue during negotiations
on the status of Kosovo.
"The return of refugees to Kosovo is the main task, but they can
return only when the necessary conditions are created," Lavrov said.
Earlier, some Russian politicians expressed concern that independence
for Kosovo would create a precedent for recognition of breakaway
regions in the former Soviet Union.
Moldova is dealing with a separatist regime in Transdnestr, while
Georgia has two breakaway regions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Nagorny Karabakh, a largely ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan,
has long been a source of friction between the two Caucasus states.
Formally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since
1999, following a NATO military campaign to drive out Yugoslav forces
accused of atrocities against Albanian civilians.
RIA Novosti, Russia
April 5 2006
BRATISLAVA, April 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister said
Wednesday that talks involving all interested parties were the only
way to solve the Kosovo crisis, and that ethnic minorities should be
a central issue.
"This problem can only be resolved through talks," Sergei Lavrov
said after talks in the Slovak capital with Slovak President Ivan
Gasparovic. "Any haste in imposing things could create a very serious
precedent and affect not only this region."
He said ethnic minorities should be a central issue during negotiations
on the status of Kosovo.
"The return of refugees to Kosovo is the main task, but they can
return only when the necessary conditions are created," Lavrov said.
Earlier, some Russian politicians expressed concern that independence
for Kosovo would create a precedent for recognition of breakaway
regions in the former Soviet Union.
Moldova is dealing with a separatist regime in Transdnestr, while
Georgia has two breakaway regions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Nagorny Karabakh, a largely ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan,
has long been a source of friction between the two Caucasus states.
Formally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since
1999, following a NATO military campaign to drive out Yugoslav forces
accused of atrocities against Albanian civilians.