Russia wants new UN mediator to replace Martti Ahtisaari

Martti Ahtisaari

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Russia proposed on Saturday that the United Nations choose a new mediator for negotiations on the future of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo.
      Kosovo's Albanian majority wants full independence, but Serbia is unwilling to grant anything more than autonomy. The current special envoy, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari has proposed a kind of limited independence for Kosovo. This falls short of the aspirations of the Albanian majority, while the Serbs think that it goes too far.
      In practice, the proposal would mean allowing Kosovo to move toward the status of an independent country under the supervision of the international community.
     
Russia has called Ahtisaari's proposal premature. In the Russian view, a decision on Kosovo's permanent status requires further negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders.
      Ahtisaari sent his proposal to the UN on Thursday. Long and difficult negotiations in Vienna between the Serbs and Albanians ended without a result. "At this point it is important to continue negotiations", said Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
      "If Martti Ahtisaari feels that he has done what he could, we can almost certainly find a person who can continue", Lavrov says.
     
Western diplomats say that Russia wants to delay and weaken the proposal that is supported by the western countries, but it does not plan to block it.
      Speaking at a conference on foreign and security policy on Saturday, Lavrov also criticised the unilateral foreign policy of the United States. He said that Russia plans to balance it by raising its own profile.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Serb newspapers lanch onslaught against Martti Ahtisaari (9.2.2007)
  Kosovo: impatience grows (25.1.2007)
  Ahtisaari focus of anger in Kosovo; full independence demanded (25.1.2007)
  Ahtisaari proposal on Kosovo to be made public by early February (19.1.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat