Putin's heir backs Serbia in Kosovo dispute
BELGRADE (AFP) — Russia's likely next president, Dmitry Medvedev, vowed Monday to stick by Belgrade in its fight against Kosovo's Western-backed declaration of independence from Serbia one week ago.
The actions behind Kosovo's split "destroy the international security system, the international legal system, which mankind formed more than 100 years ago," Medvedev told reporters during a visit to the Serbian capital.
Medvedev, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Vladimir Putin's pick as his successor, is virtually assured of victory in presidential elections on Sunday.
"We noticed that the independence declaration by Kosovo truly complicated the situation in the region, in south-eastern Europe, and impacts on all other regions and countries" with territorial problems, Medvedev said.
"We have made a deal to coordinate together our efforts in order to get out of this complicated situation," he added after talks with nationalist Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and pro-western President Boris Tadic.
Kosovo's Albanian-majority parliament unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on February 17.
The move was vehemently opposed by Belgrade, backed by Russia and was followed with a series of protests in Serbia and northern Kosovo, populated mostly by the Serbs.
Later Monday, Kosovo police clashed with some 150 Serbian army reservists and used teargas on protesters at the border between Serbia and Kosovo after being pelted with stones, bottles and lumps of metal.
Ten police were injured in the clashes on the tense Kosovo-Serbia border before police, backed by NATO-led peacekeepers, dispersed the mob, Kosovo police service spokesman Veton Ellshani told AFP.
The reservists, civilians who once served in the Serbian army, had gathered to protest Kosovo's declaration of independence at Mutivode, a village on the Serbian side, some 35 kilometres (20 miles) from the Kosovo capital Pristina.
Kosovo's independence provoked a global diplomatic split with Serbia and traditional Slavic ally Russia on one side, and Kosovo's backers -- including the United States and most European powers -- on the other.
Ahead of the visit, Moscow had accused the United States of seeking to "humiliate" Serbia over Kosovo, following a comment by US Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns that Russia was aggravating tensions over the issue.
Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were the first international leaders to visit Serbia since a mass "Kosovo is Serbia" rally in Belgrade turned violent on Thursday, resulting in the US embassy being set ablaze, killing one person.
"I am convinced that there will be no stability in the region nor in the world until (Kosovo's independence declaration) is annulled," Kostunica said, adding that there would also be no normalisation of relations with states recognising an independent Kosovo.
Lavrov warned Monday that Western backing for Kosovo could now send Palestinians down a similar road.
"There are already some Palestinian politicians who say it is futile to follow up negotiations with Israel and that these negotiations will not yield anything," he said on the Vesti 24 television channel.
"Voices are starting to be heard saying that (the world) would proceed in the same way with a Palestinian state."
As well as the US, the vast majority of EU member states have either formally recognised Kosovo or declared their intention to do so. Cyprus, Romania, Spain and Slovakia remain opposed, while Greece is also reluctant. Poland will deliver its verdict on Tuesday.
Serbia argues that Kosovo's secession violates UN Security Council Resolution 1244, adopted at the end of NATO's bombing campaign which put the disputed territory under United Nations administration while retaining Serbian sovereignty.
Medvedev's visit was also marked by the signing of deal between Russian state gas company Gazprom and Serbian counterpart Srbijagas to build an underground gas reservoir and pipeline which will pump Russian gas to western Europe.
Prior to his departure for Hungary, Medvedev visited an oil refinery in Pancevo, bombed in 1999 during NATO's air war against a Serbian crackdown on separatist Kosovo Albanians.
The refinery is a part of the state-owned oil company NIS, which Serbia agreed to sell to Gazprom for 400 million euros (588 million dollars).
