Russian Foreign Minister: Kosovo solution must keep to U.N. Resolution

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Belgrade yesterday that the problem of Kosovo must be resolved in a way that is consistent with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244.

"As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and the Contact Group, Russia will always support the process of the Kosovo status talks in line with Resolution 1244 and in direct talks between Belgrade and Pristina," Lavrov said after a meeting with his Serbia-Montenegro counterpart, Vuk Draskovic.

Lavrov stressed that Russia's opposes an imposed solution and will back only one reached through negotiation by Belgrade and Pristina.

"In that sense it is very important that Belgrade makes its views concrete," he said, underscoring the need to implement standards of democracy simultaneously with the talks.

Lavrov also said that Russia generally supports Belgrade's 'more than autonomy, less than independence' policy, although Belgrade has to be more forthcoming with the specifics, RIA-Novosti reports.

V.Y.