Russia says the formation of Kosovo army will not succeed
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that the policy of formation of new security forces in Kosovo will not succeed.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, May 02, 2008
"The policy of formation of security forces in Kosovo will not succeed", Lavrov said in London.
"No ideas outside of the mandate of UN resolution 1244 can be successful", the Russian minister said.
Lavrov was reacting to the decision by the North Atlantic Council, NATO's highest authority, to adopt this week the "Initiating directive for the revision of the operations plan" for Kfor in Kosovo, with one of the key aims being the training of the future Kosovo security force.
"They have given the political guidelines and the direction to the military authorities to begin a revision in the coming weeks of the operational plan to take into account potential new tasks," NATO spokesman James Appathuray said, adding that the new tasks would recognize the "evolution of the situation on the ground in Kosovo
"Everything that NATO does will remain under the U.N. mandate and nothing NATO does will be done without the full consent of the 26 countries" making the Alliance, he assured.
NATO sources told KosovoCompromise.com that the key goal will be the "formation of future Kosovo security forces".
"No matter what people say, the Kosovars will create security forces. We want to help them do it the proper, democratic way, with adequate control and very rigorous selection", the Alliance official said.
Work on the revised operational plan would start in several weeks and would last several months, after which it would be submitted to the North Atlantic Council for approval.
