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Kosovo's independence funded by drug money, Russian NATO envoy says
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 22 - 02 - 2008

Russia's envoy to NATO charged Friday that Kosovo's
independence fight was funded by local drug-lords as Moscow steps up
last-ditch rhetoric aimed at warning the international community
against recognising the independence of the former Serb province, according to dpa.
"Drug money is being used at present for development of a
political strand on Kosovo's independence," said Russia's newly
appointed NATO ambassador Dmitry Rogozin on Friday.
The former firebrand nationalist lawmaker called recognition of
Kosovo a "strategic mistake" and said the move would further
complicate Russia's relations with NATO.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to be present at the
next NATO summit in Romania in April, where the so-called "Kosovo
Precedent" has taken centre stage over Russia's opposition to a
planned US missile-defence base in Eastern Europe and NATO's eastward
expansion.
Russia maintains that the Kosovo Precedent will lead to an
eruption of separatist movements around the world, but analysts said
Friday that Moscow also regrets its loss of influence in Serbia, with
which it has long had close ties.
Rogozin said Thursday that Moscow was concerned over NATO
overstepping its UN mandate in Kosovo and over reports that Kosovo
had sealed its border with Serbia.
"Moscow is worried by the possibility of the appearance of alien
military bases in the province," Rogozin said via video link with
Brussels.
NATO's peacekeeping mission of over 16,000 troops holds
responsibility for patrolling the border in Kosovo.
"If the European Union works out a single position and NATO goes
beyond its current mandate in Kosovo, there will be a conflict
between these organizations and the United Nations," Russia's
NATO ambassador said.
Rogozin underlined that NATO must retain its "neutrality" and not
get involved in "international politics."
He complained that NATO and the European Union were breaking
international law and ignoring Russia's concerns about the move
toward recognizing Kosovo.
"We, I think, will need to assume that in order to be respected we
have to resort to brute military force," Rogozin said Thursday,
despite assurances that Russia would not initiate a confrontation
with NATO.


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