Kosovo. Not moral and not lawful. Putin. February 2008

Putin: Europeans Should be Ashamed

Shame on You, Europeans!

Speaking to a record 1,364 journalists at his annual presidential press conference in Kremlin on February 14, which lasted 4 hours and 40 minutes, Russian President Vladimir Putin once again stressed that "support for unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo is immoral and illegal."

"The territorial integrity of states is enshrined in the fundamental principles of international law. UN Security Council resolution 1244 speaks about the territorial integrity of Serbia, and all UN members must respect those decisions," President Putin said.

"I don't want say anything that would offend anyone, but for 40 years northern Cyprus has practically existed as an independent state," Putin said. "Why aren't you recognizing it? Aren't you ashamed, Europeans, for having such double standards for the same issues in different parts of the world?!" wondered Russian President.

Why Not Support Separatists Everywhere, Not Just in Serbia?

"We have Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Trans-Dniester, existing as independent states. And all the time they keep saying Kosovo is "a special case". That's a lie, there are no special cases, and everyone knows it. It's all the same, ethnic conflicts, crimes on both sides, de facto complete independence," said Putin.

The Russian president said that a united approach had to be developed, which Russia advocated, to deter separatism, rather than encourage it:

"We should formulate common principles to address these issues. Why do we promote separatism? Well, in Spain, people do not want to live in a single state, then support the secession there. For 400 years Great Britain has been fighting for its territorial integrity in respect to Northern Ireland. Why? Why don't you support that [secession]? We have to have common principles. If we act on the so-called political expediency, serving political interests of individual countries, we will destroy international law and the world's order," stressed Putin.

Russian president reiterated that the small countries cannot feel safe in today's world, where their interests are so obviously not protected by the international law.


http://byzantinesacredart.com/blog/2008/02/shame-on-europeans.html

http://https//home.planet.nl/~jjvanka/

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• kosovo
• putin
• russia
• serbia
• UN
• law
• international
• sovereignty
• integrity
• unilateral
• independence
• 1244
• world
• order
• europe