IL KOSSOVO SI RENDE INDIPENDENTE Le reazioni del mondo. L'ira di Putin di IHT
LONDON: Russia backed its ally Serbia on Sunday in condemning Kosovo's declaration of independence and called for the United Nations to annul the move, which the Serbian prime minister said had been accomplished to further U.S. military goals.The immediate U.S. response to the long-anticipated decision to formally split from Serbia was muted by comparison, with the State Department saying it had noted the declaration and was "reviewing the issue and discussing the matter with its European partners."It called on all parties to "exercise the utmost restraint and to refrain from any provocative act."Germany also noted the declaration and "emphatically rejected any form of violence," the Foreign Ministry said.But the stage was set for tense diplomatic sessions over the latest turn in the long and bloody break-up of YugoslaviaThe West supports the demand of Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians for their own state, nine years after NATO went to war to protect them from Serbian forces. The United States and most EU members are expected to quickly recognize Kosovo.Russia says a unilateral independence declaration by Kosovo is illegal and the council should oppose it and demand more talks between the ethnic Albanians and Belgrade.The vote in favor of independence had been expected.Prime Minister Hashim Thaci read out a text in a Parliament formed of leaders of Kosovo's 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, declaring an independent Kosovo.The Parliament, which includes former guerrillas who fought for independence in a 1998-99 war that claimed about 10,000 civilian lives, approved the declaration 109-0. Eleven ethnic minority deputies, including Serbs, were absent.Minutes after the vote in Pristina, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica of Serbia branded the southern region "a false state" in a televised address from Belgrade.He said Kosovo was propped up unlawfully by the United States, which was "ready to violate the international order for its own military interests."The Russian response was almost as swift. It called for immediate UN Security Council consultations on Sunday.The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement urging the United Nations to annul the declaration and warned of the risk of an escalation in ethnic violence in the region."We expect the UN mission and NATO-led forces in Kosovo to take immediate action to carry out their mandate," the statement said, "including the annulling of the decisions of Pristina's self-governing organs and the taking of tough administrative measures against them.""The decisions by the Kosovo leadership create the risk of an escalation of tension and inter-ethnic violence in the province and of new conflict in the Balkans," the ministry said.NATO said it would continue to provide security in Kosovo, and deal firmly with any violence.
"All parties should recognize that KFOR will continue to fulfill its responsibility for a safe and secure environment throughout the territory of Kosovo," the NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said in a statement. KFOR is the UN security force in Kosovo.
Termini d'uso | Crediti | Registrazione Tribunale di Milano n°537 del 15/10/1994 - P.iva: 09155900153 - La testata fruisce dei contributi statali diretti di cui alla legge 7/08/1990 n.250
