Sergey Lavrov explains the clear difference between Crimea and Kosovo

Leave it to the best diplomat on the planet, Sergey Lavrov, to debunk the constant western Crimea complaints and arguments.

In an interview on Thursday with the Serbian newspaper Politika, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia’s position regarding the Kosovo question is clear and consistent. Lavrov stated Russia will continue to offer Serbia the necessary support on the subject of Kosovan independence.

“Russia’s stance towards Kosovo is clear and consistent: the regulation of this problem is possible exclusively on the basis of international law and in the framework determined by UN Security Council Resolution 1244.”

“As concerns Serbia’s efforts in this area, of course, those decisions which are acceptable for Serbia are also acceptable for us. From our position, we are ready to further offer the necessary support to our Serbian partners.”

When asked by Politika about drawing a comparison between Crimea and Kosovo, Lavrov clearly explained the difference between the two cases and Russia’s opposition to the Kosovan declaration.

“We warned [regarding Kosovo] that the introduction into international practice of the model of a declaration of independence of a particular territory creates a precedent.”

“Many times we drew attention to the fact that in recent times the western alliance with the US at the head uses double standards, breaks the fundamental standards of international law, and directly and shamelessly interferes in the internal affairs of sovereign states.”

“The consequences of such an approach have been fully felt by the people of Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and today Ukraine. Because of the coup supported by Washington and Brussels, in Kiev in February of last year power was seized by ultranationalists, who with their actions took the country to the brink of collapse and began a bloody civil war.”

“In comparison with that, the residents of the Crimea, in full accordance with international law – in accordance with one of the fundamental principles of the equality and self-determination of peoples, which is stated in Chapter One of the UN Charter…and many other well-known international documents – voted in a referendum to declare independence from Ukraine and for unification with Russia.”

“The attempts by those who directed the separation of Kosovo from Serbia – and furthermore with no kind of referendum – to raise doubts over the free expression of the will of Crimean residents are obviously absurd.”

Lavrov said that Russia won’t change its position towards Kosovo, regardless of the Crimea.

Lavrov also sounded off on the latest US/EU destabilisation effort now underway in Macedonia…

“I cannot judge with a final definition, but objectively it turns out that these events in Macedonia are developing on the backdrop of the Macedonian authorities’ refusal to join in the sanction policy against Russia, as well as on the backdrop of its active support that Skopje showed in regard to the planned construction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, which many in Brussels and those overseas are against.”