First Vice Premier Dmitri Medvedev (1965- )
The unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo puts Europe at risk, according to First Vice Premier Dmitri Medvedev during a campaign speech in the city of Nizhniy Novgorod in the Volga region. The security and stability of a huge region is at risk. All you have to do is put a match to it and the whole thing will catch fire. These decisions which, if we are frank about it, are being incited from across the ocean, put Europe in a very difficult position. America is risking nothing, it is far away.
Despite a unilateral declaration of independence, Kosovo has not yet become a sovereign state, but, the situation has lead to a kind of a “parade of sovereignties”. This is not only true in the Balkans, but, also far beyond it. Parliamentarians of the Republika Srpska, which is one of the two governing entities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, called for a referendum. Hungarians from Transylvania (a historical region in central Romania) and the Rusyns from the western Ukraine have already announced their plans to follow the example of the Kosovars. The leaders of the de facto independent republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia have long been talking about sovereignty. The nationalists in Scotland and the Basque separatists in Spain are also inspired by the current situation in Kosovo.
Serbia announced it would fight until the end. Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Serbia would oppose the UDI of Kosovo until Washington understands that a pseudo-independent state should not exist in the Balkans. Russia condemned the UDI of Kosovo from Serbia and its recognition by the US and major EU powers, and it promised political support to Belgrade. Mr Medvedev believes that the participation of Serbia in the South Stream gas pipe project would provide “significant” economic assistance to Belgrade.
28 February 2008
Voice of Russia World Service
http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=23508&cid=58&p=28.02.2008 (in Russian and English)
