Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Russia

Russia Rejects Resolution On Delayed Kosovo Independence

Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin (file photo) (official site)

June 21, 2007 -- Russia has rejected a revised UN Security Council resolution that would delay independence for Kosovo to give the province's ethnic Albanian majority and Serbs more time to negotiate the future status of the Serbian territory.

TEXT SIZE - +

June 21, 2007

Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, is quoted as saying the new draft is "unacceptable" to Moscow.

The new text, drafted by the United States and European Union countries, would give Serbs and ethnic Albanians four more months to try to reach a mutually acceptable agreement on Kosovo's future.

The draft also demands that the "parties refrain from making any unilateral declarations regarding final status during that period."

No date has been set for a vote.

The original document would have endorsed internationally supervised independence for Kosovo without any delay.

Russia, a traditional ally of Serbia and a veto-wielding Security Council member, has strongly objected to the original draft.

(AP, ITAR-TASS)

Moscow And Washington: Toe To Toe

U.S. President George W. Bush (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit in Germany on June 7 (AFP)

MOUNTING TENSIONS. Relations between Russia and the United States have grown increasingly tense in recent months as issues like missile-defense, Kosovo's status, and Russia's domestic policies have provoked sharp, public differences. On June 5, U.S. President George W. Bush said democratic reforms in Russia have been "derailed"....(more)

Silent Diplomacy Versus Public Criticism

Analysts Say New Arms Race Unlikely

Moscow's Patience With U.S., Allies 'Wearing Thin'

Russian Parliament Accuses U.S. Of Election Meddling

MORE: A special archive of RFE/RL's coverage of U.S.-Russian relations.

Syrians in the northwestern town of Kfar Nubul pose with a cartoon depicting Russia

Angry Over Syria, Arab World Threatens Russian Boycott

Groups in a number of Arab states, angry over the Russian-Chinese veto of a UN resolution aimed at stopping the violence in Syria, have called for a one-day boycott of Russian and Chinese goods on February 12. More

Alla Dzhioyeva attends a protest by her supporters in Tskhinvali on January 28.

South Ossetian Opposition Leader Hospitalized After Raid

Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate whose victory in a runoff ballot in November for de facto president of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia was swiftly annulled by the republic's Supreme Court, was taken to a hospital after a raid by some 200 masked security personnel on her headquarters in Tskhinvali. More

Protesters gather behind a banner reading "Honest Elections" during a demonstration in Moscow on February 4.

How To Rig An Election

A whistle-blower in Samara explains how the authorities fixed the Duma elections in December -- and plan to do the same in the presidential vote in March. More