UNITED NATIONS, March 20 (UPI) -- Russia has objected to a closed-door presentation to the U.N. Security Council by the special representative for Kosovo, Joachim Rucker.
Moscow's envoy, Vitaly Churkin, after leaving his first deputy to represent Russia in the briefing Monday, told reporters he objected to Rucker's presentation.
"I thought that the statement which the special representative made was very one-sided and did not address the issues it was supposed to address ... and (he) decided to deliver a sermon on the inevitability of Kosovo independence so I thought it was quite inappropriate and I said so."
Kosovo, a province of Serbia, what is now left of the former Yugoslavia, has been administered since 2000 by the United Nations, when NATO forces struck at Serb forces attacking the ethnic-Albanian 90 percent majority in the historic cradle of Serbian civilization.
"This is part of the problem," the ambassador said. "They keep talking about the final status rather than concentrating on the problem at hand ... the need to implement the standards" set as guidelines for returning Kosovo to normalcy.
Special Envoy for Kosovo's Final Status Process Marti Ahtisaari "has indicated that he seems to be at the end of the road" in negotiations on the future of the province, Churkin said. "For us the important thing is to continue negotiations and if the mediators believe that they can do no more in the course of those negotiations, then the question does come up ... what to do in this kind of situation."
CHurkin said the talks have not yet reached that stage.
Last week Ahtisaari's proposals to the secretary-general fell short of total independence, but called for autonomy in a number of areas, including foreign policy.
Ban's spokeswoman said Monday he had full confidence in Ahtisaari.
