Lavrov: Countries recognizing Kosovo must be aware of disastrous consequences
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said countries which recognized the independence of Kosovo and which are encouraging separatist trends in other regions must be aware of the disastrous consequences of such processes, as well as of their own responsibility for eventual, for now unforeseen consequences.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Tuesday, March 18, 2008
"Those which have taken this road must be fully aware of their responsibility. The bigger and more powerful the country is, the bigger its responsibility", Lavrov said.
Russia's minister said Kosovo was a "precedent which has consequences in many regions" and that he "had a reason to believe that this is not happening by accident".
According to him, clashes are beginning to erupt in other world's regions, such as Tibet.
"Albanians in Macedonia are also asking for such a high level of autonomy that it obviously represents a path towards independence. The development of the situation in other parts of the world, too, leads to believe that we are assisting a beginning of an extremely explosive process".
"There is no doubt that we have seen the most flagrant violation of international law. It is not by coincidence that many states, including Islamic states, do not intend to recognize the independence of Kosovo", Lavrov said.
The situation in Kosovo is the "most flagrant example of ethnic separatism", the Russian foreign minister said, and added that it was "immoral to encourage separatist trends".
