Statement by Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, at the open VTC of UNSC Member-States on Kosovo
Mr. President,
We thank the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Mission in Kosovo Mr. Zahir Tanin for his briefing. We welcome participation of the First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Mr. Ivica Dačić. We listened carefully to what Mr. Konjufca had to tell us today.
By the way, I am looking at the flag in the background of the picture of Mr. Konjufca and I fail to recognize what flag it is. Judging by the colors, it may be Swedish or Ukrainian, or it may be the flag of Barbados. Or, since we are discussing the Balkans, is it Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Mr. President,
I would like to remind that Mr. Konjufca came to speak to us under Rule 39 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure, therefore we would like to request you to brief through the Secretariat all those who come to speak under this rule and have them informed of what background and symbols are appropriate or not when they do their briefings.
Mr. President,
The situation in Kosovo continues to deteriorate. And no rosy pictures of “Kosovo democratic achievements” that we were presented with and heard at this meeting will convince us in the contrary. We have been consistently saying that this project is not viable.
We hear today about a new looming political crisis in Kosovo. But beside this, Kosovo-Albanian leadership demonstrates no interest in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina despite readiness of Serbia to resume negotiations, but after lifting discriminatory tariffs by Pristina. Many in the West hurried to welcome, including today, the announcement by Mr. Albin Kurti that the tariffs were abolished as of April 1st. The fact is, they were just temporarily suspended with even more unacceptable demands to Belgrade.
Mr. President,
We see and notice attempts by US and EU to create conditions for the dialogue to be resumed. We believe that such attempts will fail if they ignore provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and if unilateral measures introduced by Pristina are not lifted.
EU-facilitated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina remains stalled, first and foremost because EU did not ensure that Kosovo-Albanians fulfill their obligations, taken 7 years ago, in the first place – to establish Community of Serb Municipalities of Kosovo. We count that Miroslav Lajčák, the new EU Special Representative will be able to find a solution to this issue.
We continue to deplore plans backed by some member states to create a so-called “Kosovo Army”. They run counter to provisions of 1244 and will only lead to destabilization of the situation in Kosovo and in the Balkans as a whole. We have a question to our US colleagues. The “Bondsteel” camp was deployed within a framework of peacekeeping operations to implement UNSC Resolution 1244, but later it became a de-facto American military base in Kosovo. It is being used to train Kosovo-Albanian units with an aim to create “Kosovo armed forces”, contrary, as we said, to the provisions of UNSC Resolution 1244.
We still await information on concrete perpetrators of an incident in Zubin Potok municipality on 28 May 2019 where UNMIK officials were detained and beaten by Kosovo Police. This crime still remains uninvestigated and unpunished. We demand and insist on thorough investigation and on bringing perpetrators to justice.
Incidents targeting Serbian religious sites and cemeteries continue
to take place. The decision on the plot of land owned by Visoki Dečani Monastery is not implemented for several years.
Pristina continues to shy away from cooperation with Belgrade in investigation of the murder of the Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanović in January 2018. In December 2019 six Kosovo Serbs were indicted. But impartiality of investigative procedures raises the most serious doubts.
Mr. President,
We have to point out once again that the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in the Hague do nothing to investigate crimes committed by the “Kosovo Liberation Army”. After many years
of endless red tape by yet another expensive “army” of judges, prosecutors and experts, not a single indictment has been filed yet. All this legal folderol has been going on since 2011 when the EU took upon itself to investigate facts stated in the report by the former member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Dick Marty. We have a question: When will criminals, who committed numerous atrocities against the Serbs, including trade in human organs, be brought to justice?
Mr. President,
President of Serbia offered cooperation between Belgrade and Pristina in fighting COVID-19. We welcome it, but we note with concern the publication in Kosovo media of personal data of Kosovo Serbs infected with the coronavirus. This is irresponsible and inadmissible.
Mr. President,
To conclude, we will support the achievement by Belgrade and Pristina of a sustainable and mutually acceptable solution based primarily on the UNSC Resolution 1244, the solution that will be in line with international law and endorsed by the UN Security Council. No fast tracking of the so-called “final normalization” between Belgrade and Pristina nor artificial deadlines will produce this goal. The Security Council should continue to lend its support to UNMIK, which is a key international presence in Kosovo playing a leading role in monitoring the situation, maintaining stability and creating conditions for bringing a negotiated solution closer.
I thank you.
