Sajjad
09-03-2007, 02:45 PM
Russia draws 'red line' on Kosovo, US missile defense
03/09/2007
Moscow will never give way on "red line" issues, including Kosovo and US missile defense, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared Monday in a speech underlining Russia's increasingly muscular foreign policy.
"There are so-called 'red line' issues for Russia," Lavrov said in a speech to students at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations.
"There we cannot fail to react and we must stick to our position to the end."
Lavrov specified Kosovo - where Russia opposes Western proposals to grant the province independence from Serbia - and opposition to US missile defense plans for Central Europe as areas where Moscow would not "horse-trade."
His comments were the latest sign of hawkish Russian opposition to key areas of US foreign policy under President Vladimir Putin, who is using massive oil and gas revenues to rebuild Russia's military and to restore diplomatic clout. Lavrov said some were worried by "the rapid rebirth of our country as one of the leading countries of the world.... However, this does not mean that it's necessary to think up yet another myth about the Russian threat."
He also used his speech - an annual occasion marking the start of the academic year at Russia's most prestigious international affairs institute - to attack a probe by key US ally Britain into the murder of fugitive Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko. Lavrov dismissed London's attempt to extradite a KGB veteran over the radiation poisoning in London last year as "a noisy propaganda show."
Moscow, a close ally of Serbia a Western-backed UN Security Council had used the threat of its veto power in July to block efforts by Western nations to secure a UN Security Council resolution granting independence to Kosovo, an ethnic-Albanian dominated province in southern Serbia. Russian officials have also threatened that Moscow could recognize the independence of separatist areas in Georgia, a Western ally south of Russia, should Kosovo be allowed to break off without Serbian agreement. Washington has also taken a tough line on Kosovo, suggesting it could unilaterally recognize independence for the province if the United Nations fails to do so.
Lavrov's inclusion of missile defense as a "red line" issue added to a deepening diplomatic row over Washington's wish to deploy a missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic and anti-missile rockets in Poland. Russia describes the system as aimed at its own massive nuclear force. However Washington says the shield would be aimed only at smaller military powers posing a potential threat to Europe, such as Iran or North Korea, and would be far too small to threaten Russia.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=23945
03/09/2007
Moscow will never give way on "red line" issues, including Kosovo and US missile defense, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared Monday in a speech underlining Russia's increasingly muscular foreign policy.
"There are so-called 'red line' issues for Russia," Lavrov said in a speech to students at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations.
"There we cannot fail to react and we must stick to our position to the end."
Lavrov specified Kosovo - where Russia opposes Western proposals to grant the province independence from Serbia - and opposition to US missile defense plans for Central Europe as areas where Moscow would not "horse-trade."
His comments were the latest sign of hawkish Russian opposition to key areas of US foreign policy under President Vladimir Putin, who is using massive oil and gas revenues to rebuild Russia's military and to restore diplomatic clout. Lavrov said some were worried by "the rapid rebirth of our country as one of the leading countries of the world.... However, this does not mean that it's necessary to think up yet another myth about the Russian threat."
He also used his speech - an annual occasion marking the start of the academic year at Russia's most prestigious international affairs institute - to attack a probe by key US ally Britain into the murder of fugitive Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko. Lavrov dismissed London's attempt to extradite a KGB veteran over the radiation poisoning in London last year as "a noisy propaganda show."
Moscow, a close ally of Serbia a Western-backed UN Security Council had used the threat of its veto power in July to block efforts by Western nations to secure a UN Security Council resolution granting independence to Kosovo, an ethnic-Albanian dominated province in southern Serbia. Russian officials have also threatened that Moscow could recognize the independence of separatist areas in Georgia, a Western ally south of Russia, should Kosovo be allowed to break off without Serbian agreement. Washington has also taken a tough line on Kosovo, suggesting it could unilaterally recognize independence for the province if the United Nations fails to do so.
Lavrov's inclusion of missile defense as a "red line" issue added to a deepening diplomatic row over Washington's wish to deploy a missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic and anti-missile rockets in Poland. Russia describes the system as aimed at its own massive nuclear force. However Washington says the shield would be aimed only at smaller military powers posing a potential threat to Europe, such as Iran or North Korea, and would be far too small to threaten Russia.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=23945