Russia steps up aid to Kosovo Serbs
Russia is planning to considerably step up its humanitarian aid to the Kosovo Serb community, Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Monday, April 21, 2008
"We will soon begin delivery of up to 10,000 tonnes of medicine, medical equipment and wheat," Shoigu said in Belgrade, adding this would be the second phase of Russia's humanitarian aid programme for Kosovo Serbs, after four aircraft carrying a couple hundred tonnes of aid arrived in Serbia earlier this month.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the European Union's development and its foreign policy are of different orientation, and that the current situation regarding Kosovo, which causes dissatisfaction, is an example of that division.
Lavrov said that in the conditions of strengthening of nationalism and separatism and when transfer of authorization from central organs to regional and local level turn into disintegration, he could not rule out a possibility of Europe being dragged back into the past and a fragmentation of states before the European Union turns into "Europe of regions."
"Absolutization of Kosovo's independence" contributes to disturbances within Europe, he said, adding some European states understand that and behave consistently, refusing to recognize the independence of Kosovo.
And in Switzerland, UEFA has fined Russian club Zenit from Saint Petersburg because their fans held a banner saying that "Kosovo is Serbia".
The banner was spread across the stadium during a UEFA Cup game with Olympique Marseille.
During the game Zenit fans held a banner in Russian saying, "We won't give Kosovo" and another in French saying that "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia".
