Lavrov: Kosovo’s independence a precedent for 200 regions in the world
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that Kosovo’s unilateral independence would “objectively” create a precedent, not only for the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but for some 200 secessionist regions in the world.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, January 24, 2008
The minister added that Russia understood the destabilizing effect of separatist processes, and that it had recently felt that effect itself.
Asked what Russia would do if Kosovo gained independence, he replied that this was "a position of defeat," adding that now everything should be done to solve the Kosovo problem within the boundaries of international law and the OSCE principle of inviolable borders, unless the two sides agreed differently.
"It is in our interest to preserve stability, not to allow separatism and the violation of international law," Lavrov said, highlighting that Russia was not trying to reap any kind of benefit for itself in the matter.
Meanwhile, Romanian President Traian Basescu said that his country supported a sustainable status resolution, based on negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina.
Basescu pointed out that a solution for Kosovo should abide by international law, which guaranteed the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of Serbian borders.
"No one can easily pass over the norms of international law, which composes the foundations of today's international order," Basescu said, stressing that over the past few decades those norms had ensured an unprecedented period of peace and well-being in Europe.
