Ambassador Says Moscow Not Hiding Behind Kosovo

Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC/MO)

Moscow does not need to hide behind the "Kosovo precedent" and allegations that Russia has used the "sovereignization" of Kosovo for its own purposes are not true, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko has said.

"The aim, I am sure, is to create a rift in our relations with Serbia. But our approach is honest and open. We do not need to hide behind a 'precedent,'" Botsan-Kharchenko said in an op-ed in the Politika newspaper.

Botsan-Kharchenko added that in the context of resolving the Kosovo issue they were starting with the same premise and underscored that Russia's position was unchangeable, i.e. that a just solution should be sought in a dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, in the international framework defined by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244.

"The 'Kosovo precedent,' a contagious example of self-proclaimed 'independence,' is certainly a fact. I remember that our former western partners in resolving the matter of Kosovo, first and foremost the U.S., demanded that it be collectively determined, despite the logic of real life, that Kosovo is a 'unique case,' in the spirit of their rotten concept of a 'rules-based order.' Rules willfully set by the West," said the Russian ambassador.