Dolina (TS)
25 aprile 2007
ore 17.00
tradizionale celebrazione del Giorno della Liberazione
a cura della sezione Dolina - Ma?kolje/Caresana - Prebeneg/Prebenico dell'ANPI
e dello Slovensko kulturno društvo Valentin Vodnik

Intervengono Gorazd Bajc e Alessandra Kersevan (storici)
Partecipano il Coro Valentin Vodnik e l'Orchestra a fiati Breg

PER IL XXV APRILE

Ricordiamo i Partigiani jugoslavi che hanno contribuito a liberare l'Italia


1) Iscrizione apposta sulla lapide che a Forca di Cerro presso Spoleto (PG) ricorda alcuni
dei tanti jugoslavi che, sfuggiti dopo l'8 Settembre ai campi di concentramento costruiti
dal Fascismo sul territorio italiano, formarono le prime Brigate Partigiane dell'Italia
Centrale e caddero per la liberazione del nostro paese

2) 25 aprile. Non si fucila un'idea.
di Giuseppe Aragno. La vicenda di Vladimir Gortan, primo condannato a morte del
Tribunale Speciale fascista

3) "Dietro di noi c'è la nuova Jugoslavia!"
Stralci da "A Trieste!", memoriale di Vinko Šumrada - Radoš, commissario politico del
comando clandestino di Trieste fino alla fine del mese di aprile 1945 (da La Nuova
Alabarda)


=== 1 ===

Forca di Cerro (presso Spoleto, PG), lapide ai caduti Partigiani Jugoslavi
(trascrizione letterale)
---


QUESTA LAPIDE RICORDA I FRATELLI JUGOSLAVI
CADUTI FRA QUESTI MONTI BOSCOSI E LE VERDI
VALLATE NELLA LOTTA CONTRO IL BARBARO
OPPRESSORE NAZIFASCISTA

MILAN KOVACEVIC
PETAR CUROVIC
DUSAN LABOVIC
VIKTOR BOLAFIO
KRSTO LEKOVIC
DUSAN MATIC
ISIDOR
MILAN LJUBIC
IVAN KOS
JURE LAVRIC
KERSTNER
ALBIN VOVK

E TUTTI GLI ALTRI RIMASTI SCONOSCIUTI

PIÙ CHE L'ODIO E LA VENDETTA
CONTRO LE JENE ANCORA INSANGUINATE
DAL BUIO CUPO DELLA MORTE
RIFULGE SPLENDENTE L'AURORA
DI UN LUNGO GIORNO D'AMORE...

SPOLETO 16 GIUGNO 1972



=== 2 ===

25 aprile. Non si fucila un'idea

Giuseppe Aragno

La prima, grande unità partigiana croata che operò in Istria contro i nostri "bravi ragazzi"
in divisa nacque nell'estate del 1942 e arruolò anche alcuni lavoratori italiani per i quali la
speranza di costruire un mondo migliore aveva un valore ben più alto della "patria"
fascista e di ricorrenti deliri della "civiltà da esportare". Nata per sconfiggere il fascismo, la
brigata si scelse il nome d'un giovane antifascista giustiziato: Vladimir Gortan, educato ad
un comunismo ancora sensibile alla prima tradizione internazionalista, fondata su
sperimentati e solidi rapporti tra diverse identità etniche.
Contadino, Gortan aveva appena quindici anni quando a Pisino, suo paese natale, nel
1919, conobbe le prime minacce dei giovani fascisti: "A Pola xe l'Arena, la Foiba xe a Pisin
che buta zo in quel fondo chi ga certo morbin (1). Era l'annuncio della politica razzista
posta in essere poi dall'Italia di Mussolini contro gli sloveni e della durissima repressione
che colpì socialisti, comunisti e anarchici nelle realtà industriali di Trieste, Fiume,
Monfalcone e Pola.
A venticinque anni, nel 1929, il giovane istriano ha già alle spalle l'esperienza drammatica
di una intera generazione di slavi di fronte alla quale il fascismo si è assunto la
responsabilità gravissima di un comportamento destinato a produrre una tragedia. Egli sa
bene che la sola via possibile per liberarsi del regime passa per una lotta senza quartiere.
Una lotta nata dall'odio che, tuttavia, ha condotto il giovane contadino al sogno del
comunismo internazionalista e alla speranza del riscatto sociale.
E' lui, Vladimir Gortan, che al termine di una serie di riunioni con alcuni compagni,
organizza un'azione armata che, il 24 marzo 1929, nella contrada di Monte Cosmus, tra
Villa Treviso e Villa Padova, nel territorio di Pisino, intende impedire il "normale"
svolgimento di lezioni alle quali gli slavi sono condotti dai fascisti inquadrati in colonna. In
tasca ha due pistole ed ai compagni che lo seguono – "individui di sentimenti slavi e ostili
agli italiani" – ha procurato due moschetti e un pugno di cartucce. Appostati in un bosco
ai piedi del monte, gli uomini armati si dividono in due gruppi e attendono la colonna in
due luoghi diversi. Gortan è solo, racconta a distanza di anni la sentenza del Tribunale
Speciale fascista – lontano dai compagni e l'intenzione di tutti non è quella "di uccidere gli
elettori, ma di spaventarli per impedire che vadano a votare". Si fa fuoco, qualcuno sbaglia
mira ed uno degli slavi è ucciso.
Vladimir Gortan – sono sempre i giudici a raccontare – "arrestato in treno il 28 marzo […]
mentre stava per rifugiarsi in Jugoslavia", è "trovato in possesso di documenti che
dimostrano la sua qualità di emissario delle Associazioni irredentiste di oltre confine. La
credenziale trovata addosso attesta ufficialmente" che è "di nazionalità jugoslava e
politicamente molto ben conosciuto". Comparso davanti al Tribunale Speciale con quattro
compagni, sarò processato due volte, ma nessuno si curerà di capire chi dei cinque abbia
tirato il colpo mortale e nessuno dei giudici prenderà in considerazione l'involontarietà del
tragico epilogo dell'azione dimostrativa. Se avessero veramente voluto uccidere, i cinque
imputati avrebbero fatto una strage, ma questo non interessa a nessuno. Per i giudici "la
responsabilità del delitto del 24 marzo è dell'imputato Gortan Vladimir, l'emissario delle
associazioni terroristiche di lotte confine, l'organizzatore ed il capobanda della
brigantesca impresa, colui che diede le istruzioni e fornì le armi e le munizioni". La
condanna è già decisa e la corte, "ritenuto infine che un estratto della […] sentenza di
morte, con la menzione dell'avvenuta esecuzione, deve essere affisso in tutti i Comuni del
Regno […] condanna Gortan Vladimiro, quale capobanda terrorista, alla pena di morte
mediante fucilazione nella schiena".
Alle 5,30 del giorno successivo, il 17 ottobre del 1929, a "Pola, in località sud-ovest del
poligono della Regia Marina", Gortan muove i suoi ultimi passi e si siede di spalle al
plotone. Sono presenti, Don Bartolomeo Grosso, cappellano della Milizia, Omero
Mandruzzi, centurione medico, il maggiore dei carabinieri Roberto Marino, capo
dell'Ufficio di polizia Giudiziaria presso il Tribunale Speciale e Giusepe de Turris, il console
Comandante della LX Legione della Milizia, che è schierata introno all'imputato. Alle 5,40
l'ordine di far fuoco.
Le idee però non si uccidono coi fucili. Sarà anche in nome di Vladimir Gortan che i
partigiani slavi e italiani, comunisti, socialisti, anarchici, azionisti e cattolici, liquideranno i
conti militari con l'ultimo fascismo, il più miserabile di tutti, quello che si è reso complice
delle nefandezze naziste, dei crimini cetnici, delle atrocità degli ustascia e nulla ha
imparato da nessuno in tema di sadismo.
A ciò che è stato poi, alla sorte dei popoli stritolati nella morsa dell'imperialismo
americano e del socialismo reale sovietico, all'inevitabile risorgere di antiche rivalità
nazionaliste, i combattenti della guerra di liberazione furono estranei.
In quanto a Vladimir Gortan, la vita non avrebbe potuto renderlgliela ormai più nessuno:
Vivevano ancora i suoi quattro compagni. Il 3 ottobre del 1960 il Tribunale militare di
Roma si degnò di concedere loro l'amnistia, "dichiarando estinto il diritto dell'erario al
recupero delle spese di giustizia". Erano usciti di prigione nell'estate del 1938, grazie ad
un condono condizionale della pena (2). Ai fascisti che li avevano condannati nessuno
probabilmente aveva torto un capello e, non a caso, da tempo la Costituzione è sotto tiro.
Ludovico Geymonat, partigiano e filosofo, vide lontano quando, in tempi tutto sommato
non sospetti, osservò con amarezza che dopo la guerra di Liberazione, le strutture
dell'Italia erano rimaste nella sostanza quelle di una società poco democratica, dalle quale
era nata l'Italia fascista e totalitaria (3). Chiunque abbia occhi per vedere e voglia di usarli,
può rendersene conto. Ed è vero, lo confermo: non si fucila un'idea.
La si può tradire.


(1) "A Pola c'è l'Arena, a Pisino c'è la foiba: in quell'abisso vien buttato chi ha certi
pruriti." Canto dei fascisti di Pisino. Ad usare per primi le foibe per farvi sparire avversari
politici slavi e italiani furono i fascisti. Lo ricorda, vantandosene, lo squadrista istriano
Giorgio Alberto Chiurco, nella sua Storia della rivoluzione fascista, Vallecchi, Firenze,
1929. Una conferma dei crimini fascisti è in Giacomo Scotti, Foibe e foibe, "Il Ponte della
Lombardia" n. 2, febbraio/marzo 1997.
(2) Le notizie su Vladimiro Gortan sono in Ministero della Difesa, Stato Maggiore
dell'Esercito, Ufficio Storico, Tribunale Speciale per la difesa dello Stato. ^Decisioni emesse
nel 1929, Roma 1893, Reg. Gen, n. 78/1929, sentenze n.. 53 e 36, pp. 311-322.
(3) Ludovico Geymonat, La società come milizia, a cura di Fabio Minazzi, Marcos y
Marco, Milano 1989, p. 83.


=== 3 ===

"Dietro di noi c'è la nuova Jugoslavia!"

Stralci da "A Trieste!", memoriale di Vinko Šumrada - Radoš, commissario politico del
comando clandestino di Trieste fino alla fine del mese di aprile 1945
(da La Nuova Alabarda
http://www.nuovaalabarda.org/leggi-dossier-A%20Trieste/1/
https://www.cnj.it/PARTIGIANI/sumrada.htm )


... Il lavoro continuava. Al posto di Boro, Matevž, Marjana, Bara, dell'onesto Emilio che non
sapeva tacere del suo lavoro, ma che in galera, neanche dopo essere stato picchiato a
sangue parlò, al posto della vivace Polonca a cui furono spezzati i denti in carcere, al
posto di tutti questi, ogni giorno si univano nuove persone alle nostre file. Tutti gli arresti
e le detenzioni non riuscirono a fermare il nostro movimento. I nostri magazzini si
riempivano, i gruppi partigiani attaccavano i tedeschi ed i fascisti anche durante il giorno
nel centro di Trieste, infatti in pieno giorno alla trattoria "Alla Pace" furono abbattute
anche delle forze fasciste , la guardia civica veniva disarmata e i traditori venivano puniti.
A lungo il traditore Leon ha goduto dei propri misfatti, ma il gruppo d'assalto di Milan di
Barcola lo ha raggiunto e giustiziato. Dopo questo anche Milan è stato ucciso, forse perché
qualcuno l'ha tradito. Durante la fuga è stato ucciso da un colpo della questura .
Anche il bunkeraš Jaka è morto durante un'imboscata tesagli nel suo appartamento. Non
ho più saputo niente di lui . Il fedele corriere Triglav è caduto nelle mani dei cetnici ed è
morto internato a Buchenwald, il nuovo corriere Joško che lo aveva sostituito, dopo un
duro pestaggio è stato internato in un campo di concentramento in Italia da dove è
scappato il giorno del suo arrivo ed ha ripreso immediatamente la sua attività.
Al posto delle staffette arrestate o compromesse altre subentravano e continuavano il
lavoro. Cambiavamo continuamente i documenti e le identità, ci aiutavamo in tutti i modi,
combattevamo la Gestapo e distruggemmo la loro rete provocatoria organizzata con cura.
In città la tensione era altissima, i tedeschi non lasciavano mai disarmati abitazioni e
caserme di notte e nemmeno di giorno si arrischiavano ad andare senza armi nella
periferia. Il fronte si avvicinava, erano cadute Sarajevo, Knin, Oto?ac, Sušak. Tutto il giorno
lo passavamo presso il compagno che custodiva l'apparecchio radio ed ascoltavamo le
notizie rafforzavamo l'organizzazione e coordinavamo i nuovi compagni nelle varie unità
di guerriglia. Sapevamo che le nostre unità nel momento dell'insurrezione sarebbero
rimaste isolate le une dalle altre e abbandonate a se stesse. Per questo cercavamo di
sistemare nei posti di maggiore responsabilità i nostri elementi migliori.
Erano già iniziati i combattimenti a Sušak e a Fiume quando il Gauleiter Rainer parlava agli
ufficiali tedeschi nel giorno del genetliaco di Hitler nell'ultima celebrazione a Miramare (20
aprile, n.d.r.): "Restate fedeli a Hitler fino al giorno della vittoria. Il Führer ci guida, il
Führer vincerà!". Tuttavia questa era ormai la fine.
Abbiamo ricevuto un dispaccio nel quale si diceva: "siate pronti, le nostre truppe hanno
già occupato Šempeter e Ilirska Bistrica".
Dopo questo è giunto un altro dispaccio: "non cominciate troppo presto l'insurrezione
aspettate nostri ordini".
Dopo questo non sono arrivati altri dispacci! Sabato 28 aprile 1945, di sera, eravamo a San
Giovanni. Per la prima volta ero alla trattoria Suban, anche se molti dei nostri compagni in
clandestinità la usavano come punto di ritrovo. Ricordo che abbiamo mangiato
dell'insalata, però non ricordo cosa c'era vicino. In quel momento sono state sparate le
prime salve di cannone dalle batterie marine di Muggia e Cattinara ed Opicina. Ci siamo
alzati di scatto, i piatti sono caduti per terra e noi eravamo tutti eccitati.
Le nostre truppe stanno arrivando, se i tedeschi ci bombardavano con i cannoni da Trieste
voleva dire che i nostri si stavano avvicinando!
La stessa notte sono andato da Martin Greif che nel frattempo aveva costituito il comando
della città; la mattina seguente già iniziavano i combattimenti. Nella zona della Maddalena
c'erano già i primi partigiani, naturalmente impacciati, con una grande stella rossa sulla
bustina, la maggior parte di loro aveva lunghi fucili italiani presi dai nostri depositi. Un
gruppo di tre ha disarmato il posto di guardia della guardia civica vicino a Muggia, ha
confiscato parecchi mitragliatori e un cannone anticarro. Štoka da solo in mezzo alla
strada ha disarmato un maggiore tedesco e diceva che non ha mai visto una faccia più
stupida di quella che ha fatto il tedesco quando gli ha messo la pistola sotto il naso.
Tuttavia non avevamo più collegamenti con il comando del IX Korpus. Non era ancora
giunto l'ordine telegrafico decisivo per l'insurrezione. Eravamo lasciati a noi stessi e
dovevamo decidere dal soli.
Lunedì mattina a San Giacomo è iniziata l'insurrezione operaia. Una massa di persone si
era riversata nelle strade e in mezzo a loro svicolavano le autoblindo dei tedeschi. Le
guidavano i tedeschi ma all'interno c'erano i questurini con le mostrine tricolori sulle
maniche sulle quali c'era la scritta CLN (Comitato libero nazionale- così nel testo, n.d.r.).
Le stesse persone che fino a pochi giorni prima avevano servito l'occupatore e il fascismo
e che avevano impiccato negli ultimi giorni di aprile quattro ostaggi accusandoli di avere
bruciato il garage di via D'Azeglio volevano ora farsi passare come monarchici per
prendere il potere.
Ero preoccupato che la situazione non si capovolgesse. Ma il proletariato triestino è stato
in grado di gestire la situazione. I lavoratori si impossessavano delle armi del CLN, si
armavano e componevano le compagnie, invadevano le caserme e l'ospedale militare in via
dell'Istria, e su questo non innalzarono la bandiera italiana col simbolo di casa Savoia ma
una bandiera rossa enorme che arrivava fino a terra.
Nel corso di un attacco è stata disarmata con i soli fucili una grossa autoblindo tedesca
con otto mitragliatrici, in breve il popolo ha deciso autonomamente di combattere per
prendere il potere. Dappertutto era così. Non soltanto a San Giacomo dove l'insurrezione è
stata spontanea, ma anche a San Giovanni già in mattinata fu occupata l'Università,
disarmato un presidio tedesco ed iniziata la calata verso il centro città, circondati i
tedeschi nel palazzo di giustizia e nella fortezza di San Giusto e negli altri edifici. I
tedeschi erano arroccati nelle caserme di Rozzol e nella stazione radio.
Alle 4 del pomeriggio è giunta la notizia che Biani, il comandante in capo, cioè San
Giovanni-centro , ha occupato il palazzo del Municipio il palazzo comunale sulla piazza
principale. Venti volontari si sono barricati nel palazzo della criminale questura triestina.
Aspettavamo. Non arrivavano notizie da fuori, non sapevamo cosa succedeva a Basovizza,
Opicina e Barcola. Il collegamento con la città non era possibile. Il IX Korpus non
comunicava nulla ma radio Londra trasmetteva gli ordini speciali del maresciallo Tito:
"L'ultimo giorno di aprile verso sera le truppe jugoslave sono entrate a Trieste dove sono
in corso combattimenti nelle strade".
Quindi le nostre truppe sono a Trieste e non soltanto le truppe del Comando città ma
anche i regolari dell'esercito jugoslavo. E davvero c'erano: allora erano già ad Opicina,
Barcola e San Giovanni. Il comando della città è stato trasferito a Ruzel . Sapevamo di avere
il controllo della grande parte della città, che sono state disarmate tutte le organizzazioni
collaborazioniste triestine e più di 2000 soldati tedeschi. Aspettavamo soltanto il
comunicato dall'uno o dall'altro settore, che le nostre truppe si erano congiunte con i
combattenti della IV Armata che spingeva da ovest verso la città.
Non dimenticherò mai quando ho sentito la mattina presto in via D'Angeli gridare: "Stoj,
stoj!". Ho guardato l'orologio, erano esattamente le 4 e mezzo di mattina del 1° maggio
1945. Ho aperto la finestra e visto le scure sagome dei soldati, anche se al primo
momento non sono riuscito a riconoscerle. Una donna ha urlato dalla finestra: "chi siete
compagni, da dove venite?".
Hanno risposto:
"Partigiani!".
Non sapevo cosa fare per la gioia ed ho gridato:
"Compagno, avvicinati, chi sei?".
Da lontano mi ha gridato:
"Siamo i combattenti del battaglione d'assalto della XXX Divisione".
Quando mi fu vicino mi riconobbe, un tempo era stato combattente della brigata Gradnik.
"Bene, compagno", disse, "abbiamo il compito di unirci a voi. Date la notizia che siamo
giunti in città dalla vostra postazione radio. Non posso fermarmi più a lungo, devo
proseguire. I tedeschi ci sparano dalle caserme".
Alla donna che gli aveva chiesto nuovamente chi e quanti fossero, rispose: "Siamo i
combattenti della XXX Divisione, dietro di noi stanno arrivando il IX Korpus e la IV Armata
jugoslava, dietro di noi c'è la nuova Jugoslavia".

Vinko Šumrada - Radoš

Source: http://byzantinesacredart.com/blog/2006/09/

Kosovo, a Corporate Undertaking

(PHOTO: Aerial photo of Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo and Metohija, Serbia)

In the article Camp Bondsteel and America's plans to control Caspian oil, written in April
2002 ( http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/STU205A.html - COPIED BELOW ), Paul
Stuart offers a detailed tour of the biggest US military base since the Vietnam War, built in
southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija.

Pointing out that the blueprints for this monster were prepared way ahead the first missile
on Serbia was launched in the spring of 1999, Stuart explains that American overwhelming
military presence in Serbia has nothing to do with humanitarian reasons as Clinton
administration trumpeted all over -- American troops are not there to protect the lives of
Kosovo residents, they are there to help American corporate giants get bigger and richer,
even if the last non-Albanian gets cut into pieces in the shadow of one of Bondsteel's 11
watch towers.

Making a Fortune for Halliburton

Camp Bondsteel, the biggest "from scratch" foreign US military base since the Vietnam War
is near completion in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. It is located close to vital oil
pipelines and energy corridors presently under construction, such as the US sponsored
Trans-Balkan oil pipeline. As a result defence contractors - in particular Halliburton Oil
subsidiary Brown & Root Services - are making a fortune.

In June 1999, in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Yugoslavia, US forces seized
1,000 acres of farmland in southeast Kosovo at Urosevac, near the Macedonian border,
and began the construction of a camp.

Camp Bondsteel is known as the "grand dame" in a network of US bases running both
sides of the border between Kosovo and Macedonia. In less than three years it has been
transformed from an encampment of tents to a self sufficient, high tech base-camp
housing nearly 7,000 troops -- three quarters of all the US troops stationed in Kosovo.

Downtown Military Camp

There are 25 kilometres of roads and over 300 buildings at Camp Bondsteel, surrounded
by 14 kilometres of earth and concrete barriers, 84 kilometres of concertina wire and 11
watch towers. It is so big that it has downtown, midtown and uptown districts, retail
outlets, 24-hour sports halls, a chapel, library and the best-equipped hospital anywhere in
Europe. At present there are 55 Black Hawk and Apache helicopters based at Bondsteel
and although it has no aircraft landing strip the location was chosen for its capacity to
expand. There are suggestions that it could replace the US airforce base at Aviano in Italy.

According to Colonel Robert L. McClure, writing in the engineers professional Bulletin,
"Engineer planning for operations in Kosovo began months before the first bomb was
dropped. At the outset, planners wanted to use the lessons learned in Bosnia and
convinced decision makers to reach base-camp `end state' as quickly as possible."

Initially US military engineers took control of 320 kilometres of roads and 75 bridges in
the surrounding area for military use and laid out a base camp template involving soldiers
living quarters, helicopter flight paths, ammunition holding areas and so on.

McClure explains how the Engineer Brigade were instructed "to merge construction assets
and integrate them with the contractor, Brown & Root Services Corporation, to build not
one but two base camps [the other is Camp Monteith] for a total of 7,000 troops."

According to McClure, "At the height of the effort, about 1,000 former US military
personnel, hired by Brown & Root, along with more than 7,000 Albanian local nationals,
joined the 1,700 military engineers. From early July and into October [1999], construction
at both camps continued 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Brown & Root Services provides all the support services to Camp Bondsteel. This includes
600,000 gallons of water per-day, enough electricity to supply a city of 25,000 and a
supply centre with 14,000 product lines. It washes 1,200 bags of laundry, supplies 18,000
meals per day and operates 95 percent of the rail and airfield facilities. It also provides the
camps firefighting service. Brown & Root are now the largest employers in Kosovo, with
more than 5,000 local Kosovo Albanians and another 15,000 on its books.

Journey Through Time

Staff at Camp Bondsteel rarely venture outside the compound and their activities are
secretive. Whilst other KFOR patrols are small and mobile with soldiers wearing soft caps
and instructed to integrate with the local population, US military personnel leave Bondsteel
in either helicopters or as part of infrequent but large heavily armed convoys.

In unnamed interviews US troops complain that hostility to their presence is growing as
local inhabitants compare the investment in Camp Bondsteel with the continuing decline in
their own living standards.

Those visiting Camp Bondsteel describe it as a journey through 100 years in time. The
area surrounding the camp is extremely poor with an unemployment rate of 80 percent.
Then Bondsteel appears on the horizon with its mass of communication satellites,
antennae and menacing attack helicopters circling above. Brown & Root pay Kosovo
workers between $1 and $3 per hour. The local manager said wages were so low because,
"We can't inflate the wages because we don't want to over inflate the local economy."

Terrorist KLA Rules in the US Sector

The escalating US presence at Bondsteel was accompanied by increased activity by the
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Since its appearance most Serbs, Roma and Albanians
opposed to the KLA have been murdered or driven out. Those remaining dare not leave
their houses to buy food at the local stores and the need for military escorts stretch from
children's swimming pools to tractors taken away for repair. According to observers, the
KLA continue to act with virtual impunity in the US sector despite the high tech military
intelligence facilities at Bondsteel.

When US troops arrive at Camp Bondsteel, they are more likely to be met by a Brown &
Root employee directing them to their accommodation and equipment areas. According to
G. Cahlink in Government Executive Magazine (February 2002), "Army peace keepers joke
that they're missing a patch on their camouflage fatigues. `We need one that says
Sponsored by Brown & Root,' says a staff sergeant, who, like more than nearly 10,000
soldiers in the region, has come to rely on Brown and Root Services, a Houston based
contractor, for everything from breakfast to spare parts for armoured Humvees."

The contract to service Camp Bondsteel is the latest in a string of military contracts
awarded to Brown & Root Services. Its fortunes have grown as US militarism has escalated.
The company is part of the Halliburton Corporation, the largest supplier of products and
services to the oil industry.

Mother of All Contracts

In 1992 Dick Cheney, as Secretary of Defence in the senior Bush administration, awarded
the company a contract providing support for the US army's global operations. Cheney left
politics and joined Halliburton as CEO between 1995 and 2000. He is now US vice
president in the junior Bush administration. In 1992 Brown & Root built and maintained US
army bases in Somalia earning $62 million. In 1994 Brown & Root built bases and support
systems for 18,000 troops in Haiti doubling its earnings to $133 million. The company
received a five-year support contract in 1999 worth $180 million per-year to build military
facilities in Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia. It was Camp Bondsteel, however, that was
dubbed "the mother of all contracts" by the Washington based Contract Services
Association of America. There, "We do everything that does not require us to carry a gun,"
said Brown & Roots director David Capouya.

The aim of outsourcing military support and services to private contractors has been to
free up more soldiers for combat duties. A US Department of Defence (DoD) review in
2001 insisted that the use of contractors would escalate: "Only those functions that must
be done at DoD should be kept at DoD."

Great Wall of China in Kosovo

In sectors controlled by other Western powers, KFOR soldiers who are living in bombed out
apartment blocks and old factories joke, "What are the two things that can be seen from
space? One is the Great Wall of China, the other is Camp Bondsteel."

More seriously a senior British military officer told the Washington Post, "It is an obvious
sign that the Americans are making a major commitment to the Balkan region and plan to
stay." One analyst described the US as having taken advantage of favourable
circumstances to create a base that would be large enough to accommodate future
military plans.

Camp Bondsteel has become a key venue for important policy speeches by leading officials
of the Bush administration.

US Army, the Foundation for Economy Growth

On June 5, 2001 US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld explained to troops at Camp
Bondsteel what role they played in the new administration's economic strategy. He
declared, "How much should we spend on the armed services? ...My view is we don't spend
on you, we invest in you. The men and women in the armed services are not a drain on our
economic strength. Indeed you safeguard it. You're not a burden on our economy, you are
the critical foundation for growth."

One month later, President George W. Bush made his first trip abroad to see US troops at
the camp. He traveled directly from the Rome G8 summit, where tensions with European
governments had come to the fore. In a speech described as a `retrenching' of the US in
Europe, he insisted that US troops were in Kosovo to stay, had gone in together and would
"leave together". In a break from normal procedure, in front of cheering troops, Bush
signed into law a Congress-approved increase in military spending of $1.9 billion.

Since then Camp Bondsteel has continued to grow, as it spearheads the first phase in a
realignment of US military bases in Europe and eastward. The Bondsteel template is now
being applied in Afghanistan and the new bases in the former Soviet Republics.

Bondsteel - the Reason for Bombardment

According to leaked comments to the press, European politicians now believe that the US
used the bombing of Yugoslavia specifically in order to establish Camp Bondsteel. Before
the start of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the Washington Post insisted, "With
the Middle-East increasingly fragile, we will need bases and fly over rights in the Balkans
to protect Caspian Sea oil."

The scale of US oil corporations investment in the exploitation of Caspian oil fields and the
US government demand for the economy to be less dependent on imported oil, particularly
from the Middle-East, demands a long term solution to the transportation of oil to
European and US markets. The US Trade & Development Agency (TDA) has financed initial
feasibility studies, with large grants, and more recently advanced technical studies for the
New York based AMBO (Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria Oil) Trans-Balkan pipeline.

Announcing a grant for an advanced technical study in 1999 for the AMBO oil pipeline
through Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, TDA director J. Joseph Grandmaison declared,
"The competition is fierce to tap energy resources in the Caspian region....Over the last
year [1999], TDA has been actively promoting the development of multiple pipelines to
connect these vast resources with Western markets. This grant represents a significant
step forward for this policy and for US business interests in the Caspian region."

The $1.3 billion trans-Balkan AMBO pipeline is one of the most important of these
multiple pipelines. It will pump oil from the tankers that bring it across the Black Sea to
the Bulgarian oil terminus at Burgas, through Macedonia to the Albanian Adriatic port of
Vlore. From there it will be pumped on to huge 300,000 ton tankers and sent on to Europe
and the US, bypassing the Bosphorus Straits - the congested and only route out of the
Black Sea where tankers are restricted to 150,000 tons.

The initial feasibility study for AMBO was conducted in 1995 by none other than Brown &
Root, as was an updated feasibility study in 1999. In another twist, the former director of
Oil & Gas Development for Europe and Africa for Brown & Root Energy Services, Ted
Ferguson, was appointed as the new president of AMBO [1997] after the death of former
president and founder of AMBO, Macedonian born Mr Vuko Tashkovikj.

According to a recent Reuters article, Ferguson declared that Exxon-Mobil and Chevron,
two of the worlds largest oil corporations, are preparing to finance the AMBO project.

The building of AMBO risks antagonising Turkey, the US's main ally in the region.
According to the Reagan Information Interchange, "While the United States is making an
advantageous economic decision, it is overlooking its crucial strategic relationship with
Turkey."

Securing the Energy Corridors

The US is also antagonising its European allies and Russia with Camp Bondsteel and other
smaller military bases run alongside the proposed AMBO pipeline route. It has been built
near the mouth of the Presevo valley and energy Corridor 8, which the European Union has
sponsored since 1994 and regards as a strategic route east-west for global trade.

In April 1999, British General Michael Jackson, the commander in Macedonia during the
NATO bombing of Serbia, explained to the Italian paper Sole 24 Ore "Today, the
circumstances which we have created here have changed. Today, it is absolutely necessary
to guarantee the stability of Macedonia and its entry into NATO. But we will certainly
remain here a long time so that we can also guarantee the security of the energy corridors
which traverse this country."

The newspaper added, "It is clear that Jackson is referring to the 8th corridor, the East-
West axis which ought to be combined to the pipeline bringing energy resources from
Central Asia to terminals in the Black Sea and in the Adriatic, connecting Europe with
Central Asia. That explains why the great and medium sized powers, and first of all Russia,
don't want to be excluded from the settling of scores that will take place over the next few
months in the Balkans."

Posted by Svetlana at 04:56 PM

---

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/STU205A.html

Camp Bondsteel and America's plans to control Caspian oil

by Paul Stuart

World Socialist Web Site 29 April 2002

Camp Bondsteel, the biggest "from scratch" foreign US military base since the Vietnam
War is near completion in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. It is located close to vital oil
pipelines and energy corridors presently under construction, such as the US sponsored
Trans-Balkan oil pipeline. As a result defence contractors - in particular Halliburton Oil
subsidiary Brown & Root Services - are making a fortune.

In June 1999, in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Yugoslavia, US forces
seized 1,000 acres of farmland in southeast Kosovo at Uresevic, near the Macedonian
border, and began the construction of a camp.

Camp Bondsteel is known as the "grand dame" in a network of US bases running both
sides of the border between Kosovo and Macedonia. In less than three years it has been
transformed from an encampment of tents to a self sufficient, high tech base-camp
housing nearly 7,000 troops - three quarters of all the US troops stationed in Kosovo.

There are 25 kilometres of roads and over 300 buildings at Camp Bondsteel,
surrounded by 14 kilometres of earth and concrete barriers, 84 kilometres of concertina
wire and 11 watch towers. It is so big that it has downtown, midtown and uptown districts,
retail outlets, 24-hour sports halls, a chapel, library and the best-equipped hospital
anywhere in Europe. At present there are 55 Black Hawk and Apache helicopters based at
Bondsteel and although it has no aircraft landing strip the location was chosen for its
capacity to expand. There are suggestions that it could replace the US airforce base at
Aviano in Italy.

According to Colonel Robert L. McClure, writing in the engineers professional Bulletin,
"Engineer planning for operations in Kosovo began months before the first bomb was
dropped. At the outset, planners wanted to use the lessons learned in Bosnia and
convinced decision makers to reach base-camp 'end state' as quickly as possible."

Initially US military engineers took control of 320 kilometres of roads and 75 bridges in
the surrounding area for military use and laid out a base camp template involving soldiers
living quarters, helicopter flight paths, ammunition holding areas and so on.

McClure explains how the Engineer Brigade were instructed "to merge construction
assets and integrate them with the contractor, Brown & Root Services Corporation, to build
not one but two base camps [the other is Camp Monteith] for a total of 7,000 troops."

According to McClure, "At the height of the effort, about 1,000 former US military
personnel, hired by Brown & Root, along with more than 7,000 Albanian local nationals,
joined the 1,700 military engineers. From early July and into October [1999], construction
at both camps continued 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Brown & Root Services provides all the support services to Camp Bondsteel. This
includes 600,000 gallons of water per-day, enough electricity to supply a city of 25,000
and a supply centre with 14,000 product lines. It washes 1,200 bags of laundry, supplies
18,000 meals per day and operates 95 percent of the rail and airfield facilities. It also
provides the camps firefighting service. Brown & Root are now the largest employers in
Kosovo, with more than 5,000 local Kosovan Albanians and another 15,000 on its books.

Staff at Camp Bondsteel rarely venture outside the compound and their activities are
secretive. Whilst other KFOR patrols are small and mobile with soldiers wearing soft caps
and instructed to integrate with the local population, US military personnel leave Bondsteel
in either helicopters or as part of infrequent but large heavily armed convoys.

In unnamed interviews US troops complain that hostility to their presence is growing as
local inhabitants compare the investment in Camp Bondsteel with the continuing decline in
their own living standards.

Those visiting Camp Bondsteel describe it as a journey through 100 years in time. The
area surrounding the camp is extremely poor with an unemployment rate of 80 percent.
Then Bondsteel appears on the horizon with its mass of communication satellites,
antennae and menacing attack helicopters circling above. Brown & Root pay Kosova
workers between $1 and $3 per hour. The local manager said wages were so low because,
"We can't inflate the wages because we don't want to over inflate the local economy."

The escalating US presence at Bondsteel was accompanied by increased activity by the
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Since its appearance most Serbs, Roma and Albanians
opposed to the KLA have been murdered or driven out. Those remaining dare not leave
their houses to buy food at the local stores and the need for military escorts stretch from
children's swimming pools to tractors taken away for repair. According to observers the
KLA continue to act with virtual impunity in the US sector despite the high tech military
intelligence facilities at Bondsteel.

When US troops arrive at Camp Bondsteel, they are more likely to be met by a Brown &
Root employee directing them to their accommodation and equipment areas. According to
G. Cahlink in Government Executive Magazine (February 2002), "Army peace keepers joke
that they're missing a patch on their camouflage fatigues. 'We need one that says
Sponsored by Brown & Root,' says a staff sergeant, who, like more than nearly 10,000
soldiers in the region, has come to rely on Brown and Root Services, a Houston based
contractor, for everything from breakfast to spare parts for armoured Humvees."

The contract to service Camp Bondsteel is the latest in a string of military contracts
awarded to Brown & Root Services. Its fortunes have grown as US militarism has escalated.
The company is part of the Halliburton Corporation, the largest supplier of products and
services to the oil industry.

In 1992 Dick Cheney, as Secretary of Defence in the senior Bush administration,
awarded the company a contract providing support for the US army's global operations.
Cheney left politics and joined Halliburton as CEO between 1995 and 2000. He is now US
vice president in the junior Bush administration. In 1992 Brown & Root built and
maintained US army bases in Somalia earning $62 million. In 1994 Brown & Root built
bases and support systems for 18,000 troops in Haiti doubling its earnings to $133
million. The company received a five-year support contract in 1999 worth $180 million
per-year to build military facilities in Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia. It was Camp Bondsteel,
however, that was dubbed "the mother of all contracts" by the Washington based Contract
Services Association of America. There, "We do everything that does not require us to carry
a gun," said Brown & Roots director David Capouya.

The aim of outsourcing military support and services to private contractors has been to
free up more soldiers for combat duties. A US Department of Defence (DoD) review in
2001 insisted that the use of contractors would escalate: "Only those functions that must
be done at DoD should be kept at DoD."

In sectors controlled by other Western powers, KFOR soldiers who are living in bombed
out apartment blocks and old factories joke, "What are the two things that can be seen
from space? One is the Great Wall of China, the other is Camp Bondsteel."

More seriously a senior British military officer told the Washington Post, "It is an obvious
sign that the Americans are making a major commitment to the Balkan region and plan to
stay." One analyst described the US as having taken advantage of favourable
circumstances to create a base that would be large enough to accommodate future
military plans.

Camp Bondsteel has become a key venue for important policy speeches by leading
officials of the Bush administration.

On June 5, 2001 US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld explained to troops at Camp
Bondsteel what role they played in the new administration's economic strategy. He
declared, "How much should we spend on the armed services? ...My view is we don't spend
on you, we invest in you. The men and women in the armed services are not a drain on our
economic strength. Indeed you safeguard it. You're not a burden on our economy, you are
the critical foundation for growth."

One month later, President George W. Bush made his first trip abroad to see US troops
at the camp. He traveled directly from the Rome G8 summit, where tensions with European
governments had come to the fore. In a speech described as a "retrenching" of the US in
Europe, he insisted that US troops were in Kosovo to stay, had gone in together and would
"leave together". In a break from normal procedure, in front of cheering troops, Bush
signed into law a Congress-approved increase in military spending of $1.9 billion.

Since then Camp Bondsteel has continued to grow, as it spearheads the first phase in a
realignment of US military bases in Europe and eastward. The Bondsteel template is now
being applied in Afghanistan and the new bases in the former Soviet Republics.

According to leaked comments to the press, European politicians now believe that the
US used the bombing of Yugoslavia specifically in order to establish Camp Bondsteel.
Before the start of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the Washington Post
insisted, "With the Middle-East increasingly fragile, we will need bases and fly over rights
in the Balkans to protect Caspian Sea oil."

The scale of US oil corporations investment in the exploitation of Caspian oil fields and
the US government demand for the economy to be less dependent on imported oil,
particularly from the Middle-East, demands a long term solution to the transportation of
oil to European and US markets. The US Trade & Development Agency (TDA) has financed
initial feasibility studies, with large grants, and more recently advanced technical studies
for the New York based AMBO (Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria Oil) Trans-Balkan pipeline.

Announcing a grant for an advanced technical study in 1999 for the AMBO oil pipeline
through Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, TDA director J. Joseph Grandmaison declared,
"The competition is fierce to tap energy resources in the Caspian region....Over the last
year [1999], TDA has been actively promoting the development of multiple pipelines to
connect these vast resources with Western markets. This grant represents a significant
step forward for this policy and for US business interests in the Caspian region."

The $1.3 billion trans-Balkan AMBO pipeline is one of the most important of these
multiple pipelines. It will pump oil from the tankers that bring it across the Black Sea to
the Bulgarian oil terminus at Burgas, through Macedonia to the Albanian Adriatic port of
Vlore. From there it will be pumped on to huge 300,000 ton tankers and sent on to Europe
and the US, bypassing the Bosphorus Straits - the congested and only route out of the
Black Sea where tankers are restricted to 150,000 tons.

The initial feasibility study for AMBO was conducted in 1995 by none other than Brown
& Root, as was an updated feasibility study in 1999. In another twist, the former director
of Oil & Gas Development for Europe and Africa for Brown & Root Energy Services, Ted
Ferguson, was appointed as the new president of AMBO [1997] after the death of former
president and founder of AMBO, Macedonian born Mr Vuko Tashkovikj.

According to a recent Reuters article, Ferguson declared that Exxon-Mobil and Chevron,
two of the worlds largest oil corporations, are preparing to finance the AMBO project.

The building of AMBO risks antagonising Turkey, the US's main ally in the region.
According to the Reagan Information Interchange, "While the United States is making an
advantageous economic decision, it is overlooking its crucial strategic relationship with
Turkey."

The US is also antagonising its European allies and Russia with Camp Bondsteel and
other smaller military bases run alongside the proposed AMBO pipeline route. It has been
built near the mouth of the Presevo valley and energy Corridor 8, which the European
Union has sponsored since 1994 and regards as a strategic route east-west for global
trade.

In April 1999, British General Michael Jackson, the commander in Macedonia during the
NATO bombing of Serbia, explained to the Italian paper Sole 24 Ore "Today, the
circumstances which we have created here have changed. Today, it is absolutely necessary
to guarantee the stability of Macedonia and its entry into NATO. But we will certainly
remain here a long time so that we can also guarantee the security of the energy corridors
which traverse this country."

The newspaper added, "It is clear that Jackson is referring to the 8th corridor, the East-
West axis which ought to be combined to the pipeline bringing energy resources from
Central Asia to terminals in the Black Sea and in the Adriatic, connecting Europe with
Central Asia. That explains why the great and medium sized powers, and first of all Russia,
don't want to be excluded from the settling of scores that will take place over the next few
months in the Balkans."

Copyright 1998-2002 World Socialist Web Site All rights reserved. Reprinted for fair use
only.

http://romanolil.blog.tiscali.it/wa3266062/

25 aprile: Liberazione coi Sinti di Vicenza

postato da romano lil
Lunedi 23 Aprile 2007 ore 17:16:47

Vicenza, 25 aprile, ricorrenza della Liberazione dal regime nazi-fascista. Alle ore 9,30
l'Opera Nomadi vicentina invita tutti ad una presenza di solidarietà coi Sinti del "campo
sosta" di viale Cricoli dopo l'incursione neofascista del 14 aprile scorso. I partecipanti si
dirigeranno quindi in piazza ad unirsi alle celebrazioni ufficiali della Festa della
Liberazione. Liberazione dall'oppressione che per i Rom e Sinti non è ancora arrivata.

ORE 9,30 TROVIAMOCI IN VIALE CRICOLI
L'Opera Nomadi di Vicenza invita tutte le persone sensibili ai diritti umani ed alla giustizia,
ad una "presenza di solidarietà" coi Sinti perseguitati di viale Cricoli. Si formerà un corteo,
autorizzato dalla Questura, che si dirigerà in Piazza dei Signori per unirsi, alle ore 11,15,
alle celebrazioni ufficiali della Festa della Liberazione.

I ROM E SINTI ASPETTANO ANCORA LA LIBERAZIONE
Il 25 aprile è arrivato anche grazie ai Rom e Sinti che hanno parte-cipato alla resistenza,
ma per la loro gente non è arrivata la "libe-razione" dal pregiudizio che, anche a causa di
una profonda diversità culturale, ha segnato tutta la loro storia nel Continente Europa. Se
questo è un "Paese libero" lo si deve alle lotte e al sacrificio di chi si è opposto alla
dittatura fascista e all'occupazione nazista.
I Rom e Sinti, italiani e immigrati, aspettano ancora la democrazia, cioè la liberazione dalla
guerra dell'oppressione e del pregiudizio che portò alle persecuzioni e sterminio nazi-
fascista (con oltre 500.000 morti) e che oggi li costringe ancora a vivere segregati in campi
nomadi – lager istituzionali ed a nascondere la loro identità etnica per poter vivere e
lavorare in pace.
Ma la discriminazione a cui continuano ad essere sottoposti oscura le nostre coscienze e ci
riguarda tutti. Come ci ammonisce Primo Levi, sopravvissuto ai campi di sterminio nazisti:
"Il viaggio all'ingiù comincia dalla negazione dell'uguaglianza tra gli uomini e finisce
fatalmente nella perdita di libertà e nel lager…"


L'appello dell'Opera Nomadi di Vicenza

RESTITUIRE IL 25 APRILE AI SINTI E AI ROM!

"Ma quante sono le menti umane capaci di resistere alla lenta, feroce, incessante,
impercettibile forza di penetrazione dei luoghi comuni? "– Primo Levi
Non è bastato al popolo Rom/Sinto lo sterminio di oltre 500.000 persone per poter entrare
nella memoria storica europea e nazionale. Non sono bastate le migliaia di internati nei
campi del Duce e deportati nei lager dell'Est per restituire loro il diritto a una qualunque
forma di risarcimento sociale e culturale, a cominciare dal riconoscimento del loro status
di persone, come di una tutela legislativa in quanto minoranza etnico-culturale e
linguistica, presente da secoli nel nostro Paese.
Non sono bastati i tanti Sinti e Rom che hanno aderito alla lotta di Resistenza al fascismo e
al nazismo in Italia, come in Polonia, in Francia e in Jugoslavia, per vederli ricordati di
diritto nella ce-lebrazione del 25 aprile e nelle diverse commemorazioni.

Rom e Sinti nella Resistenza in Italia:
GIUSEPPE LEVAKOVICH, partigiano - Brigata "Osoppo" - Friuli;
RUBINO BONORA, partigiano - Divisione "Nanetti" - Friuli;
AMILCARE DEBAR, staffetta e partigiano - 48^ Brigata "Garibaldi" - Piemonte;
GIUSEPPE CATTER, comandante di distaccamento - 4^ Brigata "Gari-baldi" - Liguria;
WALTER CATTER, membro della resistenza padovana e fucilato dai nazifascisti assieme ad
altri nove compagni al Ponte dei Marmi - Vicenza 11 novembre 1944.

Il dopoguerra per questo popolo non è mai cominciato: emarginati nei "campi nomadi",
circondati dai pregiudizi e dal disprezzo sociale, sono esposti all'aggressività delle
formazioni neofasciste che, in "continuità ideale" e pratica con i predecessori, li fanno
oggetto di violenze e abusi, spesso tollerati e mai seriamente repressi. I fatti di Opera, di
Scampia, di sabato 14 aprile a Vicenza, sono solo gli ultimi di una lunghissima serie.
Se negli anni `30 e '40 erano gli Ebrei il bersaglio dell'intolleranza sia delle società, sia
delle Istituzioni dei diversi Stati, oggi sono i Rom e i Sinti l'oggetto di discriminazione per
eccellenza. Non è un caso se l'Unione Europea lancia continui richiami allo Stato italiano
per le condizioni di degrado e discriminazione nelle quali queste persone vengono tenute
nel nostro Paese.

BASTA CON L'OBLIO!
BASTA CON L'OSTILITÁ!
BASTA CON L'INDIFFERENZA!

Le famiglie Sinte e Rom di viale Cricoli sono nostri concittadini!

Sono VICENTINI che vivono nella precarietà economica a causa della scomparsa dei loro
mestieri tradizionali e che NON BENEFICIANO DI ALCUN AMMORTIZZATORE SOCIALE. Sono
persone che vivono CONTRO LA LORO VOLONTÁ e da decenni sopra una ex- discarica, in
condizioni ambientali, igieniche e di sovraffollamento che nessun altro vicentino
accetterebbe.

MERCOLEDI' 25 APRILE 2007 ORE 9,30 IN VIALE CRICOLI

PRESENZA ATTIVA DI SOLIDARIETÁ ALLE FAMIGLIE DEL CAMPO SOSTA COMUNALE DOPO
L'INCURSIONE NEOFASCISTA.
PER UNA CITTÁ APERTA, DIGNITÁ E DIRITTI PER TUTTI

Opera Nomadi di Vicenza
Aderiscono: Associazioni e Cittadini antirazzisti

Riferimenti
Incursione fascista al "campo nomadi" di Vicenza
http://archivioromanolil.blog.tiscali.it/wx3261764/

CHI SONO I "DEMOCRATICI ANTI-PUTIN" CHE MANIFESTANO CON KASPAROV


Da Mark Bernardini - residente in Russia - riceviamo e giriamo:

<< Ho passato una settimana in Italia, per lavoro. Proprio in questi giorni, sembrava che
in Russia fosse successo chissà cosa, quasi una mattanza fascista, nei confronti di
un'opposizione di massa, avanguardia di un popolo oppresso sempre più insofferente.
Non avevo la possibilità di andare "alla fonte", in albergo non avevo la parabola, dovevo
basarmi su quanto affermato dai mass media italiani. Ne è risultato che una
manifestazione di folle oceaniche è stata ingiustificatamente massacrata dalla polizia a San
Pietroburgo. In effetti, le immagini erano molto sgradevoli, per chi, come me, ricorda le
cariche armate della polizia democristiana degli anni '70...

La manifestazione era autorizzata, ma vi hanno partecipato circa duemila persone, anziché
le folle oceaniche paventate da Repubblica, RAI 3, RAI News 24, Corriere, Unità, Manifesto.
In una città di quattro milioni e mezzo di abitanti. Ricordo quando a Roma, nel '77,
partivamo in corteo noi studenti da quel crocicchio di scuole superiori che erano i due licei
scientifici "Newton" (1.100 studenti) e "Sarpi" (500), l'ITC femminile "Pietro Della
Valle" (900) e l'ITIS "Galilei" (3.500). Non siamo mai stati meno di quattromila. Su seimila
che erano gli studenti, mica i tre milioni d'abitanti di Roma.

Ma non è questo, o non solo. Al termine della manifestazione autorizzata, dai duemila si
sono staccati cinquecento militanti del disciolto Partito Nazional-Bolscevico di Eduard
Limonov ed hanno provato a dare l'assalto alla Procura cittadina. Secondo voi, la celere in
Italia che farebbe? Esatto. Ed aggiungo che farebbe bene, ossia farebbe il proprio dovere,
quello per il quale è pagata dai contribuenti, cioè da voi.
Quando partivamo in corteo a Roma, regolarmente si accodavano i vari "Autonomia
Operaia" e consimili. Al termine, lancio di un paio di sampietrini verso i cordoni dei
poliziotti, così quelli caricavano loro e noi, il gioco era fatto.

Analisi, innanzitutto. Nazional-Bolscevico?

Abbiamo studiato marxismo su libri di testo diversi, evidentemente: io, da marxista, sono
scontatamente internazionalista, è quasi una tautologia.
Qual'è la bandiera di questo Partito? Una falcemmartello nera in un cerchio bianco su
sfondo rosso. Ricorda nulla?

http://img.lenta.ru/news/2006/11/28/complaint/picture.jpg

Chi è Eduard Limonov?

Negli anni '70 faceva il dissidente negli Stati Uniti. Un bell'esempio di bolscevico,
accidenti... >>

---

Vedasi, sullo stesso argomento:

Kazachstan
http://brezhnardini.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/brezhnardini/2006/09/kazachstan.html

Il conflitto russo-georgiano
http://brezhnardini.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/brezhnardini/2006/10/
il_conflitto_ru.html

Anna Politkovskaja
http://brezhnardini.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/brezhnardini/2006/10/
anna_politkovsk.html

Stereotipi
http://brezhnardini.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/brezhnardini/2006/10/stereotipi.html

La Russia, l'eterno cattivo
http://brezhnardini.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/brezhnardini/2006/10/
la_russia_leter.html

La Russia vista dall'Occidente
http://brezhnardini.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/brezhnardini/2006/11/
la_russia_vista.html

Litvinenko
http://brezhnardini.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/brezhnardini/2006/11/litvinenko.html

Litvinenko bis
http://brezhnardini.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/brezhnardini/2006/12/
litvinenko_bis.html

Gajdar e Scaramella: questione di stile
http://brezhnardini.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/brezhnardini/2006/12/
gajdar_e_scaram.html

Ucraina: l'Italia deve per forza schierarsi?
http://brezhnardini.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/brezhnardini/2007/04/
ucraina_litalia.html

=======================

Link permanente:
http://brezhnardini.blog.espresso.repubblica.it/brezhnardini/2007/04/
opposizione_di_.html

Mark Bernardini
mark @ bernardini.com
www.bernardini.com

http://sucardrom.blog.tiscali.it/pw3264884/

SUCAR DROM
pringiarasmi kroll ketane


Milano, una vergogna nazionale!

postato da sucardrom
Sabato 21 Aprile 2007 ore 13:45:10


Giovedì 19 aprile è stato convocata una seduta del consiglio di zona 3, a Milano, aperto
agli interventi dei cittadini e con la presenza, annunciata, del assessore Moioli e di Don
Colmegna. Il tema era il cosiddetto "campo nomadi" all'interno del parco Lambro
(soluzione temporanea per i Rom cacciati da Opera e in attesa di una soluzione definitiva).

Dato che era stata annunciata la massiccia presenza di attivisti della Lega Nord, di AN e
dei "comitati cittadini contro i Rom" e che tra gli iscritti a parlare non c'era nessuno in
nome dei Rom, la consigliera della Lista Fo (che è anche la mia lista) mi ha invitato ad
intervenire.

La prima cosa triste che ho visto entrando, è stata un consigliere di zona con una
maglietta con la scritta: "Zingari in zona 3? No grazie!" (vedi foto, "Un uomo può sorridere
ed essere un malfattore!" W. Shakespeare).

Dentro la sala c'erano più di duecento persone che urlavano: "li vogliamo fuori dalle palle!
Portateveli a casa vostra!..." Don Colmegna non c'era e mi hanno riferito che, prima che
arrivassi io, l'assessore Moioli aveva tentato di parlare ma a causa delle urla disumane non
si era capito nulla di quel che aveva detto.

E questo solo perché aveva tentato di esporre il suo "fantastico" progetto sugli "zingari":
recintati e controllati a vista continuamente ma non cacciati via, perché questo sarebbe
illegale.

Gli interventi dei "cittadini" erano unanimi: "Questa è casa nostra, non li vogliamo,
sporcano, rubano, non vogliamo trattare, se ne devono andare fuori dalle palle!".

Qualcuno è arrivato persino al punto di prendersela con l'amministrazione per aver
piantato degli alberi davanti al campo provvisorio, svelando un piano diabolico:
nascondere i Rom e le loro attività criminali. La protesta si concretizzava nella geniale
proposta di tagliare tutti gli alberi del parco, a fin di bene, e per la sicurezza dei cittadini
onesti.

Avendo raggiunto il mio limite di sopportazione, sono uscita. E fuori ho incontrato
nuovamente il consigliere in "maglietta", così ho chiesto di poter fare qualche foto. Forse
pensando che fossi una giornalista, il consigliere mi ha dato il permesso. Sembrava molto
contento e orgoglioso ( http://img.blog.tiscali.it/allegati/naz/7201/_3264884.jpg ).
Nessuno ancora aveva capito chi io fossi.

Poi, una signora mi ha riconosciuto: "Ma è la zingara che ho visto in
televisione!" ...un'attimo di stupore e di gelo e poi è partito un brusio generale che subito
è divenuto un frastuono di insulti. Ma per fortuna mi hanno invitato ad entrare per il mio
intervento.

Avevo preparato un discorso pacifico, nel quale si dice che porto la voce di tanti Rom di
Milano, onesti e lavoratori, pronti al dialogo, al fine di trovare le migliori soluzioni
abitative. Avrei anche voluto dire che le persone contro le quali si ribellano sono una
quarantina di uomini donne e bambini (gli altri sono stati cacciati via, per una
trasgressione del patto di legalità ma questa è un'altra storia di ingiustizia), tutta gente
per bene, lavoratori, poveri ma con il diritto sacrosanto alla dignità umana.

Avrei voluto dire che anche ai Rom non piace vivere nei "campi", che chiedono alle
istituzioni di impegnarsi a cercare altre soluzioni, insieme a loro. Non l'ho potuto dire.

Sono stata aggredita verbalmente e, poi, quasi fisicamente. Sono stata insultata: "Zingara
di merda! Torna a casa tua! Non ti vogliamo! Fuori dalle palle!..."

Passati i tre minuti che mi erano concessi per l'intervento, la polizia, insieme a un'altro
attivista in maglietta verde, sono venuti da me offrendomi la scorta per uscire. Ovviamente
ho rifiutato, volendo rimanere fino alla fine.

Ho sentito il capogruppo di An in Provincia, De Nicola, dire: "Noi non siamo razzisti",
tenendo la mano sulla spalla dell'attivista in maglietta con scritta "zingari – no grazie".

Ho sentito l'assessore Moioli dire: "Ragazzi calmatevi, questi non rubano, lo sapete bene,
perché questi sono controllati, il problema sono gli altri, quelli che sono fuori".

Mi sono vergognata per quella poca gente (salvo rare eccezioni) che dice di essere di
sinistra e che rappresenta la sinistra in quel consiglio che ha applaudito il discorso finale
dell'assessore e che non si è alzata, non ha detto una parola o fatto qualcosa quando sono
stata fortemente insultata.

Ma del resto, nel loro piccolo, dall'interno di un consiglio di zona, loro seguono la politica
della sinistra milanese in generale che non ha la forza di alzare la voce contro questa
barbarie e appoggia coloro che vogliono recintare, controllare, segregare.

A coloro che pensano di poter ignorare o sminuire il razzismo e l'odio gridatoci
apertamente in faccia, che è come un virus che si sta allargando in tutta la Lombardia,
chiederei una riflessione al di là dei giochi politici, di alleanze e di "bandierine": non si è
arrivati ad un punto dove è necessario dire basta, alzare la voce e fare qualcosa? Qual è il
limite di sopportazione prima di condannare, chiaramente e apertamente, quello che sta
accadendo?

E' gia accaduto in passato, di non dare peso a posizioni simili, ignorando segnali precisi di
razzismo e violenza. Sappiamo bene cosa ha portato.

Ma chiederei la stessa cosa a quelli come me, al mio popolo, ai Rom. Qual è il limite di
sopportazione? Possiamo permettere ancora una volta questo virus? Non ci riguarda tutti
quello che sta accadendo, nonostante in questo caso si tratti di Rom Rumeni? Non è forse
la stessa cosa? Non ci toccherà tutti e anche presto? Non dobbiamo ai nostri antenati morti
nei lager, a noi stessi e ai nostri figli, di unirci per una volta e far sentire ed ascoltare la
nostra voce? O aspetteremo come sempre di subire quello che gli altri vogliono e decidono
per noi?

La Storia ci dice che hanno sempre voluto e preso decisioni terribili. Perchè questa volta
dovrebbe essere diverso? Perché viviamo in un paese democratico e in una società civile?

Io vengo da un paese che, in tutti questi anni, ho sentito definire non - democratico, un
regime che negava diritti e libertà. Ma sono dovuta venire a Milano per sentirmi dire che
avevo bisogno di una scorta, per il solo fatto di aver dichiarato la mia appartenenza etnica.
Opre Roma!

di Dijana Pavlovic

(italiano / english)



Voices from Russia: Sergej Lavrov



Sulle posizioni espresse dalla Russia per bocca del suo Ministro
degli Esteri, Lavrov, a proposito della situazione del Kosmet sin dai
pogrom del marzo 2004, documentiamo con dispacci di agenzia, articoli
di analisti che riferiscono le dichiarazioni di Lavrov, ed anche una
intervista da questi rilasciata al settimanale tedesco Der Spiegel
(tutto in ordine cronologico inverso; i testi in italiano sono tratti
dal sito www.ansa.it/balcani ).

Lavrov sarà a Belgrado nei prossimi giorni assieme al vice-premier
cinese. Sia la Russia che la Cina si oppongono esplicitamente, ed
anche "effettivamente" in sede di Consiglio di Sicurezza dell'ONU,
alla secessione ed al riconoscimento internazionale della
"indipendenza" delle provincia serba, che è oggi in realtà un
protettorato coloniale dei paesi NATO, nel quale vige attualmente un
regime di apartheid e che rappresenta il centro e lo snodo della gran
parte dei traffici criminali (armi, droga, prostituzione) a livello
internazionale. (a cura di IS)



Articles are ordered in inverse chronological order. Sources are:

Stop NATO - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato

Yugoslaviainfo - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yugoslaviainfo



=== 2007 ==

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=9941&cid=45&p=14.04.2007
Voice of Russia - April 14, 2007

The future status of Kosovo will dominate the agenda
of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Serbia
and Montenegro
Russia rejects as “unacceptable” a plan outlining the
future status of Kosovo presented by UN special envoy
Martti Ahtisaari.
Speaking in New York on Friday Russian ambassador to
the UN Vitaly Churkin said that if accepted the plan
would encourage regional separatism in other parts of
the world.
Russia welcomes April 25 decision by the UN Security
Council to send a team of observers on a fact-finding
mission to Pristina and Belgrade.
The future status of Kosovo will dominate the agenda
of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Serbia
and Montenegro on April 18-20.



http://www.srbija.sr.gov.yu/vesti/vest.php?id=33122
Government of Serbia - April 11, 2007

Chinese, Russian officials to visit Belgrade as part
of Serbian diplomatic initiative

Belgrade – Director of the Serbian government’s Office
of Media Relations Srdjan Djuric said today that top
officials of China and Russia, which are both
permanent members of the UN Security Council, are
expected to visit Belgrade soon.
In a statement to Tanjug news agency, Djuric said that
the Serbian diplomatic initiative includes visits to
Belgrade by top representatives of governments of
countries which have a decisive role in resolving the
issue of Kosovo-Metohija.
He said that Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu will
visit Belgrade on April 17, and stressed that this
visit is of special importance for Serbia because
China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council
and has taken the stand that the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of internationally recognised
countries must be respected.
According to Djuric, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov will visit Serbia from April 18 to 19, and
added that this is a very well timed visit.
The Serbian government has clearly stated many times
that the principled support from Russia for a legal
and compromise solution for Kosovo-Metohija is of
historical significance for Serbia, said Djuric.



http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?
yyyy=2007&mm=04&dd=11&nav_category=90&nav_id=40621
Associated Press/Interfax - April 11, 2007

Senior Chinese, Russian officials to visit Belgrade

Belgrade, Moscow - Media office head Srðan Ðuriæ told
the AP senior Chinese and Russian officials will visit
Serbia next week.
“The two countries have a crucial influence in the
process to determine the Serbian province's future
status,” Ðuriæ said, adding that the visit came as
part of stepped up diplomatic activity in connection
with Kosovo's future.
Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangu is to arrive in Serbia
on April 17, and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov will visit April 18-19, the report said.
There was no immediate confirmation of the visits by
China and Russia, the AP added.

“Turning back on Serbs betrayal”

“For Russia, to refuse supporting Serbia’s integrity
would mean to betray an Orthodox sister nation,”
Interfax quoted Russian State Duma international
affairs committee chairman Konstantin Kosachyov.
According to Kosachyov, one reason why Russia was
opposed to Kosovo’s independence was that the province
had a special significance for the Orthodox Serbs.
“For Serbia, Kosovo is a sacred land. No matter how
many Serbs live there, they must not be rid of their
lawful right to remain there and have their religious
and cultural values protected,” Kosachyov told the
Argumenty i Fakty weekly.
According to the MP, “we cannot turn our back upon the
Serbs in this situation since it would be a betrayal.”
“If we sacrifice international law to please the
current political situation, it will make territorial
‘fallout’ unpredictable,” he added.
“Today there are almost 200 territories worldwide
aiming at independence, and in about fifty of them
there is the possibility that violence could break
out,” Interfax reported Kosachyov as saying.



http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11705494
Interfax - April 3, 2007

Russia confirms Ahtisaari plan unacceptable - Lavrov

YEREVAN - Russia considers Martti Ahtisaari's proposal
on the definition of the Kosovo status, which is to be
introduced to the United Nations' Security Council
today, as unacceptable, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said.
"The report assumes the inevitability of the Kosovo's
independence despite Serbia's position. Such a
unilateral approach is of course unacceptable," the
minister said at a press conference after a meeting
with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian on
Tuesday.


KOSOVO: RUSSIA RIBADISCE, SERVE ACCORDO BELGRADO-PRISTINA
(ANSA) - MOSCA, 29 MAR - Il piano dell'emissario dell'Onu Martti
Ahtisaari per il Kosovo e' destinato al fallimento se non terra'
conto delle posizioni sia di Belgrado che di Pristina: lo ha detto il
ministro degli esteri russo Serghei Lavrov dopo un incontro con il
collega portoghese Luis Amado. ''Bisogna prendere in esame non i
contrasti esistenti sul tema fra Russia e Unione europea e
all'interno della stessa Ue, ma solo le divergenze fra Serbia e
kosovari'', ha detto il ministro. ''Non si puo' parlare ancora dello
status kosovaro senza tenere presenti le posizioni di Belgrado e
Pristina'', ha aggiunto Lavrov. Amado da parte sua ha sottolineato
l'importanza della concertazione fra Russia e Ue sul problema del
Kosovo: ''Si tratta non solo di quel conflitto, ma del fatto che la
situazione creatasi influira' sulla soluzione pratica di altri
conflitti esistenti''.(ANSA). OT
29/03/2007 13:04



KOSOVO: RUSSIA FRENA SU PIANO AHTISAARI, DISCUTEREMO ALL'ONU
(ANSA) - MOSCA, 27 MAR - Mosca preme ancora sul freno di fronte al
piano per il Kosovo elaborato dall'ex premier finlandese Martti
Ahtisaari, inviato speciale delle Nazioni Unite, e consegnato ieri al
Consiglio di Sicurezza dell'Onu dal segretario generale. Oggi il
ministro degli esteri russo, Serghei Lavrov, ha ribadito la posizione
di Mosca ''per il rispetto degli interessi di tutte le parti in
causa'', come riferisce l'agenzia Itar-Tass. ''Tutti i problemi
devono essere risolti per consolidare la stabilita' e non per
minarla. Preoccupazione che riguarda sia il Kosovo che la situazione
in Bosnia-Erzegovina'', ha sottolineato, a margine di colloqui con il
suo collega montenegrino Milan Rocen. ''Durante la discussione del
piano di Ahtisaari al Consiglio di sicurezza dell'Onu, la Russia non
restera' passiva. Le nostre azioni mireranno a risolvere la
situazione. La discussione non riguardera' cosa c'e' scritto sulla
carta, ma l'attuazione delle decisioni della risoluzione 1244'', ha
spiegato Lavrov. ''Crediamo - ha concluso - che debba essere preso il
meglio dal piano Ahtisaari ed essere esaminato per un ulteriore
lavoro sulla risoluzione''. (ANSA). SAV
27/03/2007 16:23



http://en.rian.ru/world/20070327/62682046.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti - March 27, 2007

Russia to launch probe if Ahtisaari Kosovo plan accepted - FM

MOSCOW - Russia will demand inquiries into the
implementation of all previous UN resolutions on
Kosovo if the UN Security Council approves a UN
special envoy's plan on the status of Kosovo, the
Russian foreign minister said Tuesday.
Marti Ahtisaari, a special UN envoy for talks on
Kosovo, has proposed that the province be granted
internationally supervised sovereignty, but Serbian
authorities have strongly opposed the plan as
threatening Serbia's national sovereignty and
territorial integrity.
"We will be checking how existing UN Security Council
resolutions on Kosovo, particularly Resolution 1244,
are being implemented," Sergei Lavrov said. "We want
to objectively, without imposing any one-sided
evaluations, determine who was implementing UN
Security Council resolutions and how, and who was
not."
On Monday Ahtisaari returned his proposals on the
future status of the breakaway Serbian province to the
UN Security Council following fruitless top-level
talks in Vienna between Pristina, Belgrade and the
European Union, which said later in a statement that
it fully backed Ahtisaari's plan.
As a veto-wielding member in the 15-nation UN Security
Council and a traditional ally of Serbia, Russia has
insisted that a decision on Kosovo should satisfy both
Kosovar and Serbian authorities, and that it must be
reached through negotiations.
Serbia's predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo
province, which has a population of two million, has
been a UN protectorate since NATO's 78-day bombing
campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a war
between Serb forces and Albanian separatists in 1999.
The Serbian parliament unanimously approved a
resolution February 14 rejecting some provisions of
the plan.
Unlike Russia, NATO has made it clear that it favors
independence for Kosovo, but a final decision will be
up to the UN Security Council.



http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=8997&cid=67&p=22.03.2007
Voice of Russia - March 22, 2007

RUSSIA PLANS TO DEFEND MUTUALLY ACCEPTABLE KOSOVO RESOLUTION

While discussing the Kosovo issue in the UN Security
Council Russia plans to defend a resolution the two
conflicting sides would approve. Russia’s foreign
minister Sergei Lavrov said as much, speaking in the
lower house of Parliament.
The minister says that Moscow is not going to distance
itself from the voting on the Kosovo issue in the UN
Security Council.
This is a principled issue, which includes historical,
political and spiritual aspects, and the so-called
“ostrich’s stand” is no good there.
If an attempt is made to impose something on the Serbs
against their will, that is, to suggest something they
will find unacceptable, this will be equally
unacceptable for us, the Russian minister emphasized,
answering the deputies’ questions.
He added that nobody knows what the voting results
will show.
Everything depends on the package of proposals that is
expected to be submitted for the approval of the UN
Security Council. If both Belgrade and Pristina
approve it, there will be no dispute on this issue:
this will mean that the two sides have reached
agreement.
Thus, Moscow has made it clear that it remains
committed to its former stand on Kosovo.
This seems a circumstance of great importance, since
the Kosovo issue has been submitted to the UN Security
Council.
The plan that was worked out by the United Nations
chief negotiator for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari for the
Kosovo settlement was rejected by Belgrade as it
brings closer the independence of the Kosovo Province
and its break-away from Serbia. Serbia says it is
ready to grant the broadest possible status to Kosovo.
But the Albanian community’s leaders as well as their
patrons, including the United States, the European
Union and NATO, strongly disapprove this.
They have already voiced their support for Ahtisaari’s
plan.
Russia can’t accept this.
And not only because in this case international
agreements on Kosovo will be violated.
Despite the Western countries’ assertions that Kosovo
is an unprecedented case, it is absolutely clear that
it may create a dangerous precedent.
Factually, attempts are being made to ensure Kosovo’s
independence in violation of international law.



http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/21/europe/EU-GEN-Russia-
Kosovo.php
Associated Press - March 21, 2007

Russian foreign minister criticizes U.N. plan for Kosovo

MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister warned on Wednesday
that Moscow would oppose a United Nations plan for
Kosovo if the document ignores Serbia's interests.
Sergey Lavrov appeared to signal that Russia would use
its veto power in the U.N. Security Council if the
measure opposed by Belgrade comes to a vote in its
present shape.
"We aren't going to stay away from it. That's a matter
of principle," Lavrov told lawmakers in the lower
house of Russian parliament, suggesting Russia would
not abstain if an unsatisfactory proposal is put to a
council vote. "It strikes too many chords — political,
historic and spiritual."
The plan, drawn up by U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari,
would grant Kosovo internationally supervised
statehood and elements of independence including its
own army, flag, anthem and constitution. It needs
Security Council approval to take effect.
Ahtisaari said this month that he would deliver the
document to the Security Council by the end of March,
despite bitter disagreement between Serbia and
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership over the proposal.
Russia opposes Kosovo being split off from Serbia and
has called for more work to take Belgrade's interests
into account.
"When we talk about the U.N. Security Council vote, we
must not view it as something already predetermined,"
Lavrov said. "If there are attempts to enforce on the
Serbs something which is unacceptable to them, that
would be unacceptable to us as well."
Kosovo has been under U.N. and NATO administration
since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb
crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999.
President Vladimir Putin and other officials have said
that granting Kosovo statehood could set a precedent
for separatist regions in former Soviet republics,
such as South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which broke away
from control of the central government in Georgia in
wars in the early 1990s.
"Despite the Western claims that the Kosovo issue is
unique, that would create a precedent," Lavrov said.
Georgia's Western-leaning government has pledged to
bring the two breakaway regions back into the fold and
accused the Kremlin of backing separatists.
Lavrov said Moscow would keep providing assistance to
the two provinces, where many residents have Russian
citizenship, but added that it would not seek to annex
them.
"We aren't waiting and rubbing our hands that they
would split Kosovo away from Serbia and we will act in
the same way regarding these regions," Lavrov said.
"There is no such link here. That would be the wrong
stance to take."



KOSOVO: LAVROV; CONTINUARE COLLOQUI, PURE CAMBIANDO MEDIATORE
(ANSA) - MOSCA, 17 MAR - Mosca e' per la prosecuzione dei negoziati
sullo status del Kosovo, eventualmente anche sostituendo l'attuale
mediatore Onu, Martti Ahtisaari, che lo scorso sabato aveva
dichiarato la fine di oltre un anno di infruttuosi colloqui serbo-
albanesi aggiungendo che ora tocca al Consiglio di sicurezza dell'Onu
decidere se concedere l'indipendenza alla provincia serba. ''Sono
convinto che, tenuto conto del modo in cui sono state formulate le
posizioni, e' necessario continuare i negoziati'', ha dichiarato il
capo della diplomazia russa, intervenendo oggi al consiglio di
politica internazionale di difesa. ''E se Martti Ahtisaari pensa di
aver fatto tutto quello che poteva, allora quasi certamente si puo'
trovare un'altra persona per lavorare su questo dossier'', ha
aggiunto.(ANSA). SAV
17/03/2007 13:16



http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=8495&cid=56&p=12.03.2007
Voice of Russia - March 12, 2007

TALKS ON KOSOVO GAVE NO RESULTS, UN SECURITY COUNCIL
IS EXPECTED TO DECIDE FUTURE OF THE REGION

Vienna talks on the would-be status of Kosovo have not
produced results.
It is well to remember here that after the NATO
military operation against Serbia in 1999 Kosovo,
Serbia’s integral part, was placed under the
supervision of the United Nations and [NATO].
Ethnic Albanians took power at all levels in the
province.
As for Serbs who inhabited the region from time
immemorial, they were evicted or had to live in
reservations.
The plan suggested by UN special envoy Marti Ahtisaari
does not suit either Serbs or Albanians.
Albanians insist on the region’s full independence.
Belgrade agrees to give Pristina broad autonomy but
insists on preserving Serbia’s territorial integrity.
The Serbian president Boris Tadic believes that the
Ahtisaari plan if adopted can create a precedent of a
territory’s succession from the state to satisfy the
ambitions of only one ethnic group.
Belgrade says that Kosovo’s independence destabilizes
the situation in the region and also creates a
dangerous precedent for the resolution of territorial
disputes in Europe and the world as a whole.
The potential of the Kosovo talks has been exhausted.
Mr. Ahtisaari said after the Vienna high-level
consultations that it was turn of the UN Security
Council to say its word.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believes
that in a search of the ways to settle the conflict
the interests of both sides should be accommodated.
Here is more from him:

"The Ahtisaari plan gives the impression that the
authors believed Kosovo’s independence is inevitable,
they thought little of Belgrade’s stance on the
matter.
""No wonder Belgrade saw those suggestions as
insufficient for reaching an agreement.
"Frankly speaking, we are concerned with a lack of
wish to meet Belgrade half way. A final decision
should be acceptable for both sides. Attempts to
promote unilaterally one particular scheme
unacceptable for the other side cannot guarantee a
stable peace settlement. We cannot take part in such
attempts."
As is known, Russia has the right to veto in the UN
Security Council.
The Serbian Prime Minster Vojislav favoured the
continuation of the talks with the representatives of
the Kosovo authorities if the Ahtisaari plan fails to
find support in the UN Security Council.


http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27418904.htm
Reuters - February 27, 2007

Russia worried about Kosovo plans - Lavrov

MOSCOW - Russia is concerned by a lack of willingness
by the West to take into account Serbia's interests
when drafting plans for the future of its breakaway
province of Kosovo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said on Tuesday.
"Frankly, we are worried at the absence of any desire
to meet the legitimate concerns of Belgrade," Lavrov
told a news conference, answering a question about his
attitude to the plan presented by U.N. envoy Martti
Ahtisaari.
A longtime ally of Serbia, Russia is resisting
Ahtisaari's plan to give effective independence to
Kosovo despite Belgrade's objections. Russia has a
decisive say on the U.N. plan in the Security Council
where it holds a veto.
"The contents of the plan lead one to think that the
authors of the plan took as a starting point the
inevitability of Kosovo's independence regardless of
Belgrade's views," Lavrov said.
Lavrov said last week Russia would not be part of any
effort to force Serbia to recognise the independence
of Kosovo in remarks suggesting Russia was leaning
towards a veto on the Security Council resolution on
the province.



http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?menu=1&id_issue=11685360
Interfax - February 27, 2007

Unilateral solution to Kosovo problem unacceptable to Moscow - Lavrov

MOSCOW - Russia will not support any attempts to solve
the Kosovo problem in the interests of only one party
to the conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said.
"Attempts to advance any particular scheme, which is
not acceptable to one of the parties, either party,
cannot guarantee a sustainable solution and we will
not be able to be part of such attempts," Lavrov said
at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday.


http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/22/europe/EU-GEN-Germany-
Russia-Kosovo.php
Associated Press - February 22, 2007

Russian foreign minister underscores Russia's skepticism over Kosovo
plan

BERLIN - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on
Thursday underlined Moscow's skepticism about plans to
resolve Kosovo's status, saying Russia would not sign
on to any solution imposed by outsiders.
"A decision on Kosovo can only be reached by the
parties," Lavrov said after meeting with German
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. "No one can
impose this decision — at least Russia will not
participate in such a scheme."
Kosovo, a province of Serbia, has been under U.N. and
NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war
that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian
separatists in 1999.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 2
million people, are seeking independence from
Belgrade. But Serbia and Kosovo's Serb minority say
the province is the heart of Serbia's ancient homeland
and should remain within its borders.
A U.N. proposal would give Kosovo internationally
supervised self-rule and the trappings of statehood,
including a flag, anthem, army and constitution.
Ethnic Albanians think it does not go far enough,
while Serbia considers it an illegal attempt to pry
away the region.
Kosovo is a point of friction between Russia and the
West. That could produce a showdown at the U.N.
Security Council between the United States, which
backs Kosovo independence, and Russia, a longtime
Serbian ally with veto power.
Lavrov said the goals of a U.N. resolution that
established U.N. administration for Kosovo after the
war have not been fulfilled, and suggested Western
partners in the so-called Contact Group were catering
to ethnic Albanians.
U.N. resolution 1244 "has only been implemented with
regard to the parts that suit the Kosovo Albanians,"
Lavrov said. "It has not been implemented in aspects
that cause problems with the Kosovo Albanians."
"For example, everyone knows that the return of
refugees and displaced persons among the non-Albanian
minorities has practically not taken place, or taken
place in miserly dimensions."
He said that 90 percent of displaced Serbs and Gypsies
[Roma] could still not return home.
"Further, security in Kosovo, despite the massive
presence of armed forces and the U.N. mission, has not
been achieved," Lavrov said.



http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070222/61126545.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti - February 22, 2007

Russian FM says no deadline for Kosovo status talks

BERLIN - Russia's foreign minister said Thursday a UN
envoy for talks on Kosovo should not set a deadline
for a final decision on the status for Serbia's
Albanian-populated region.
Marti Ahtisaari, who has proposed that the Balkan
province be given an internationally supervised
sovereignty, has said talks are to end by March 10
after which the matter will return to the UN Security
Council.
"It is not up to him to decide whether there is still
time for making a decision or not," Sergei Lavrov told
a news conference after a meeting with his German
counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. "Mr. Ahtisaari
has been fulfilling a UN task, which is to mediate
between the parties in the Kosovo conflict."
Lavrov also reiterated that Russia would not try to
impose any decisions on Kosovars.
"A decision on Kosovo can only be adopted by the
parties involved in the dispute themselves, nobody can
impose it on them. Anyway, Russia will not be part of
any such scheme," he said.
Belgrade and Pristina held talks on Ahtisaari's
proposal in Vienna Wednesday, but no breakthrough was
made.
Belgrade has rejected proposals to give independence
to the region, which has been under a UN protectorate
since 1999 after U.S. air raids conducted to end
alleged ethnic cleansing by Serbian troops.
Serbian authorities say they are willing to grant
Kosovo broad autonomy, but will never let the province
secede from Serbia.
Albanian leaders have said Kosovo's independence is
the only option for them.
Lavrov also said only provisions in the UN Kosovo
resolution benefiting the Albanian population had been
implemented thus far.
"It is no secret that the return of refugees to Kosovo
and those ethnic minorities displaced has not taken
place except for a minor group. 90% of Serbs, Gypsies
and other minorities who once lived in Kosovo cannot
return," he said.
The provision on a limited Serbian police force and
border guards has not been implemented at all, the
minister added.
Russia, a traditional ally of fellow Slavic Serbia and
a veto wielding Security Council member, has been
opposed to internationally backed plans to grant
sovereignty to Kosovo, also arguing it would set a
precedent for the breakaway regions in the former
Soviet Union it is believed to support: Georgia's
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Moldova's Transdnestr.



http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11682759
Interfax - February 21, 2007

Lavrov reaffirms need for compromise on Kosovo

MOSCOW - Russia once again reiterates the need for the
authorities in Belgrade and Pristina to strike a
compromise on the Kosovo problem, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in
Moscow on Wednesday.
"I can confirm our position that a solution to the
Kosovo issue must be found through negotiations and
that both sides must agree with it," he said.
Asked whether Russia is prepared to use its veto if
the Kosovo plan unveiled by UN Special Envoy Martti
Ahtisaari is placed on the UN Security Council's
agenda without Belgrade's consent, Lavrov said that no
draft resolutions on Kosovo have been submitted.



http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11273137&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass - February 21, 2007

Any resolution on Kosovo should be agreed by two sides – Lavrov

MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
any resolution on Kosovo should be agreed by the two
sides.
Commenting on Moscow’s position to veto a U.N.
Security Council draft resolution on Kosovo, the
Russian minister said on Wednesday any resolution on
Kosovo should be “agreed by the two sides. Now there
is no subject that may be vetoed. There are not any
draft resolutions on Kosovo”.
Later in the day, Belgrade and Pristina will conduct a
final round of talks on Kosovo’s future status in
Vienna.
They will discuss a comprehensive proposal on the
Kosovo status that was worked by U.N. Special Envoy
Martti Ahtisaari.
His proposal is being supported by the United States,
the European Union and NATO.
It envisages granting Kosovo restricted sovereignty
under the EU control with a possible membership in
international organisations.
Disregarding the outcome of the talks, Ahtisaari
intends to prepare a final variant of his plan by the
end of March and submit it to the U.N. Security
Council.



http://en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=560
Strategic Cultural Foundation (Russia) - February 9, 2007

The Kosovo Test of Russian Diplomacy

Mikhail Yambaev

What should we make of all that?
Will Russia use its influence again in order to
persuade Serbia to agree to disadvantageous
conditions?
Could the Kosovo problem turn into another chip in the
trade-off between Russia and the West? If so,
everything would go smoothly at the United Nations. Or
will Moscow muster its strength to demonstrate that
the diplomacy of the Yeltsin epoch is gone forever?
[I]s the issue of its influence in the Balkans not in
the interests of Russia?
At present, when the United States and its European
NATO partners increase pressure on Moscow in many
directions, bringing their military bases closer to
the western borders of the Russian Federation, the
goal of keeping ground in the Balkans is getting more
and more acute for this country.

Kosovo and Metohia are once again media’s front-page
news.

In late January Martti Ahtisaari, a special
representative of UN Secretary General presented to
Urbi et orbi a draft plan of the settlement of the
issue of the future of this region, which is an
inseparable part of Serbia.
Serbia’s government, President and newly elected
parliament rejected this plan. In turn Albanians, in
particular Kosovo’s “premier” Agim Ceku criticized
Ahtisaari’s plan as failing to take into account some
of their demands.
So, according to Ahtisaari’s plan Kosovo should be cut
off from Serbia, becoming an independent state, even
though the plan of the Finnish diplomat does not
mention “independence”.
The region is to obtain all the state attributes,
including the national flag, the anthem, its
coat-of-arms, the army, the central bank, the police
and the right to join all international organisations,
including the United Nations.
A new stage of Serbian-Albanian negotiations is
planned for mid-February, and Ahtisaari intends to
table his document, which should include the wishes of
both sides to the UN Security Council in March.
Members of Europe’s Big Three visited Moscow in early
February to hold negotiations on issues of
European-Russian cooperation. The issue of Kosovo’s
future was not the least important theme at the
negotiations.
Speaking to journalists about the outcome of the
negotiation, RF Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
that the solution of the issue should be acceptable
for both Belgrade and Pristina.
Some of those fond of holding forth about adaptability
of “the Kosovo precedent “ for the republics of the
former USSR had to swallow a bitter pill and
simultaneously took a cold bath as Javier Solana, a
top EU official responsible for foreign policies and
security, an adamant supporter of Ahtisaari’s plan,
used diplomatic rhetoric saying openly that the more
than probable granting of independence to this region
would never become a precedent for the unrecognised
republics on the post-Soviet space, sending a message
to Moscow to the effect that it should not be delude
itself as to what is allowed to Jupiter and what – to
a bull. Well, of course Solana, the politician who
effectively controlled the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia,
knows what he is talking about!
Of course, according to Sergei Lavrov, if his words
were not sheer diplomacy, there are concerns that
Russia could again be given the role of the “principal
force” to reason with Serbia.
A word of clarification. The Russian President has
been quoted as saying that this country would veto any
decision on Kosovo by the UN Security Council if
Serbia finds it unacceptable.
A brief reminder: in the 1990s Russia used all its
influence on Belgrade for no other reason than to
persuade the Yugoslav/Serbian authorities to accept
disadvantageous solutions imposed on them by the
so-called “international community”.
Belgrade received uncorroborated promises of support,
after which the Yeltsin-Kozyrev diplomacy pushed
through solutions advantageous to the West.
The events of 1998-1999 were the most outrageous. It
all started with Yeltsin telling the world that he
would not permit anyone to bomb Yugoslavia, and the
end of the story was the shameful mission of
Chernomyrdin, who threatened Yugoslavs by telling them
that should they refuse to accept demands of NATO
aggressors, NATO would start the carpet bombing.
The outcome of this Balkans diplomacy by Yeltsin and
Chernomyrdin are – to put it mildly – lamentable.
In this connection, the words of Aleksandr Alekseev,
head of the Russian diplomatic mission in Belgrade,
cannot fail to cause concerns.
He repeated once again that any solution of the Kosovo
problem with which Belgrade disagrees, stands no
chance of succeeding at the UN Security Council.
According to him Moscow would finally identify its
position after Belgrade identifies its stance. Did our
diplomat mean that Russia would again persuade Serbia
to make its “final decision?
But at the same time there is some good news to
rejoice at – Alekseev urged the parties involved to do
better than get hung up on the dates Martti Ahtisaari
fixed.
It will be no catastrophe if the negotiation process
takes longer, Alekseev said. Serbia should be given
the opportunity to form a competent government that
would take the responsibility for the solution of the
Kosovo problem.
But Kosovo’s “premier” Agim Ceku, who apparently may
have been given some sort of guarantees during his
visit to Moscow in the autumn of 2006, says he has no
fear of the Russian veto at the UN Security Council.
This terrorist who is now playing the role of a
politician, is deeply convinced that Russia needs no
complications in its dealings with the West.
At the same time Javier Solana, who is a supporter of
Kosovo’s independence has said that Russia is
“especially responsible” for the settlement of the
Kosovo problem?

What should we make of all that?

Will Russia use its influence again in order to
persuade Serbia to agree to disadvantageous
conditions?
Could the Kosovo problem turn into another chip in the
trade-off between Russia and the West? If so,
everything would go smoothly at the United Nations. Or
will Moscow muster its strength to demonstrate that
the diplomacy of the Yeltsin epoch is gone forever?
Of course Russia should defend its own - rather
somebody else’s - national interests.
However, is the issue of its influence in the Balkans
not in the interests of Russia?
At present, when the United States and its European
NATO partners increase pressure on Moscow in many
directions, bringing their military bases closer to
the western borders of the Russian Federation, the
goal of keeping ground in the Balkans is getting more
and more acute for this country.
The football is currently on the Russian field. The
next kick is Russia‘s...



http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,464531,00.html

Der Spiegel - February 7, 2007

SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEY LAVROV

"Everyone Ought to Stop Demonizing Russia"


Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, 56, discusses
threats to security in Europe, the dispute over
Russian natural gas and oil and America's unilateral
approach in the Middle East.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Minister, President Vladimir Putin will
travel to Germany this week for the 43rd Munich
Conference on Security Policy. It will be the first
time a Russian head of state attends this event. What
message will he bring to the conference?

Lavrov: Our greatest concern is European security. We
want to see the entities engaged on the continent -
the European Union, NATO, the European Council, the
Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe,
but also the United States and Canada - cooperate more
effectively in the future instead of seeing themselves
as competitors.

SPIEGEL: What are you concerned about specifically?

Lavrov: There are some disconcerting developments.

The balance between East and West, in terms of
conventional weapons, has shifted considerably.
The modified Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe
is still not in effect because the NATO countries
refuse to ratify it. The original treaty applied to
NATO and the Warsaw Pact, but by now almost all former
Warsaw Pact members have joined NATO, bringing along
their military forces and weapons. Finally, the US
military presence in Europe will become a strategic
factor.

SPIEGEL: You are referring to Washington's plans to
set up a missile defense system in Eastern Europe?

Lavrov: The Americans are negotiating the deal, and
perhaps they have already secured a treaty. The system
involves, among other things, a radar system in the
Czech Republic and a military base in Poland.
The silos for interceptor missiles that will
apparently be installed there are completely
comparable to those used for ballistic missiles, which
can also be used offensively. New facts are being
established here. We want to be told, clearly and
unmistakably, why this is happening. We see no
objective reason for this step.

SPIEGEL: What will you do if the Americans don't
cooperate?

Lavrov: President Putin has said that we will not
plunge into a new arms race, and that we don't want to
pointlessly invest money in weapons again. We are
looking for an intelligent answer.

SPIEGEL: We are under the impression that, beyond this
military buildup issue, tensions have been growing in
the relationship between Russia and the West. What is
the deeper reason for this?

Lavrov: We must finally put an end to the Cold War
mentality. Perhaps it was easier for us, as Russians,
to overcome the stereotypes of the past than for some
partners in the West, who are still obsessed by the
idea that they won the Cold War.
This victor mentality leads them to believe that they
can now dictate the rules of engagement to us. It
would be better to think about how each of us can win.
Russia would be happy to take the first step. For
example, we know exactly what the West's interests are
vis-à-vis Russia or the former Soviet republics.

SPIEGEL: You are referring to the sensitive issue of
energy. The Europeans are now relying increasingly on
the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Lavrov: We should be playing with an open hand here
and not resorting to illegal methods.

SPIEGEL: What do you mean by illegal methods?

Lavrov: I think you know exactly what I mean.

SPIEGEL: We assume that you are alluding to the
political upheavals in several former Soviet republics
that have been promoted by the West.

Lavrov: We fully understand the West's need for energy
security. We were able to agree to principles of
cooperation during last year's tough negotiations.
Now we need concrete implementation. If we build the
northern European gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea
and - as I hope - the pipeline from the Bulgarian
Black Sea port of Burgas to Alexandroupolis in Greece,
we will have different transport routes ...

....
Unfortunately the Western media, including the German
media, were prejudiced in their reporting. Everyone
ought to stop demonizing Russia.

....
SPIEGEL: There are other contentious issues. UN
Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari's proposals on the
future of Kosovo have been on the table since last
weekend. President Putin has warned that this issue
could trigger a serious crisis in relations between
Russia and the EU. Do you truly intend to use your
veto in the UN Security Council if Kosovo becomes de
facto independent?
Lavrov: Putin never said that. Russia adheres strictly
to all agreements on the matter of Kosovo - UN
Security Council Resolution 1244 and the subsequent
documents drafted by the contact group. Much of that
was never even implemented, such as the plan to bring
back some of the Serb border troops.

SPIEGEL: That was never realistic.

Lavrov: The plan to return Serb refugees and other
displaced Serbs was also never implemented. This is a
disgrace for Europe. The Serbs are now the largest
group of refugees on the continent.
Our Western partners consistently argued that certain
standards would have to be put in place before
clarifying the status issue.
Now we are told that the Albanian leadership in Kosovo
can do nothing before it is assured that Kosovo will
gain independence.
At the last meeting of the contact group it was said
that Ahtisaari's proposals should not be construed as
an ultimatum, but as an offer to both sides to
continue talks.
Attempts to present these proposals to the Security
Council right away are pointless and
counterproductive. I cannot imagine how it can adopt a
resolution that would not be acceptable to the Serbs.

SPIEGEL: Moscow has repeatedly made it clear, using a
threatening tone, that Kosovo would set a precedent.

Lavrov: The Kosovo decision will certainly be a
precedent. It would be the first time in the region's
postwar history that independence would not be granted
with the approval of both sides.

SPIEGEL: We don't believe that the positions of Kosovo
Albanians and Serbs could be reconciled once again.

Lavrov: They should have thought about that before -
such as when they bombed Serbia without a mandate from
the Security Council and attacked more than military
targets.

SPIEGEL: It was Russia that stood in the way of a UN
resolution at the time.

Lavrov: Nevertheless, what the West liked about
Resolution 1244 was implemented, while the rest was
not. They should have thought earlier about how to
bring about reconciliation between Serbs and
Albanians.

SPIEGEL: America is embarking on a tougher course
against Iran. How would Russia react if the United
States were to attack Tehran militarily?

Lavrov: Violence leads to dead ends. Iraq, Lebanon and
Somalia are examples of how this can happen. In the
end, the problems only get worse. In the case of Iran,
we have a clear decision on sanctions that was made by
the Group of Six and ratified by the Security Council.
This corresponds to Article 41 of the UN Charter,
which states that sanctions are possible but clearly
rules out violence.

SPIEGEL: Your reference to the crisis regions of Iran,
Iraq and Somalia sounds as if you wanted to say: The
world would be in better shape now if it had listened
to Russia.

Lavrov: We do want people to listen to us. The crises
in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine all point to
the same thing: All influential players must be
included.
If someone has questions for Iran, Syria or Belarus,
sanctions shouldn't be imposed on these countries.
Instead, they should be convinced to engage in a
dialogue. Palestine now faces the prospect of civil
war. We and the EU support the attempts by Hamas and
Fatah to form a government of national unity. But
others believe that they must support one of the
conflicting parties and isolate the other. The outcome
of this cannot be good. The same applies to Iraq. It
will be impossible to achieve anything without
including Syria and Iran.

SPIEGEL: Do you believe the President Bush can even
achieve a stabilization of Iraq anymore?

Lavrov: The situation there is truly difficult. But we
are not interested in assigning blame over who was
right four years ago and who was wrong. We will all
suffer if we cannot achieve stability in Iraq. For
this reason, and to prevent a civil world and
partition of the country, we have been proposing, for
the last three years, an Iraq conference that would
involve the so-called patriotic opposition and all
neighboring countries. The consequences would in fact
be catastrophic if the multinational forces were
withdrawn overnight. But the Iraqis must also be
clearly informed about the stages in which foreign
troops will be withdrawn.

SPIEGEL: The conflict is already spreading. A front of
Sunni Arab countries has already formed against Shiite
Iran.

Lavrov: The attempt to mobilize other Islamic
movements against Iran is a dangerous provocation.
Iran is an old country ...

SPIEGEL: ... that is in the process of acquiring
nuclear weapons.

Lavrov: So far there is no unequivocal proof that a
military nuclear program exists in Iran. The UN
Security Council has its position, and the
Vienna-based atomic energy agency (IAEA) has five or
six questions to which the Iranians must respond. The
IAEA's final assessment of the situation depends on
this response, and we also insist on it.

....
SPIEGEL: Mr. Minister, we thank you for this
interview.



http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/
2007/February/theworld_February90.xml§ion=theworld&col=
Associated Press - February 3, 2007

Russia, US still disagree over Kosovo despite UN plan

MOSCOW - Russia and the United States still disagree
sharply over the future status of the Serbian province
of Kosovo, the Russian foreign minister said Saturday,
a day after UN envoy unveiled a blueprint that would
offer the territory conditional statehood.
"So far we don’t have a common view how to resolve
this problem," Russian news agencies quoted Sergey
Lavrov as saying after his arrival in Moscow from
talks in the United States.
A plan unveiled by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari on Friday
spelled out conditions for internationally supervised
self-rule for Kosovo - complete with the trappings of
nationhood such as a flag, anthem, army and
constitution and the right to apply for membership in
international organizations.
"Kosovo is a topic on which, in contrast to Iran, Iraq
and Afghanistan, the divergence in our positions has a
character of principle," Lavrov said.
Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since 1999, when
NATO airstrikes stopped Serbia’s crackdown on
separatist ethnic Albanian rebels. Belgrade insists
the province must remain a part of Serbia, whereas its
majority ethnic Albanians seek independence.
Both Serbia’s pro-Western president, Boris Tadic, and
its nationalist prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica,
immediately rejected the plan, saying that they would
never accept independence for Kosovo.
Russia has backed Serbia and insisted that no
settlement could be imposed without the consent of
Belgrade.



http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue=11670766
Interfax - February 3, 2007

Lavrov: Moscow, Washington do not have common vision on Kosovo

MOSCOW - The divergence in the positions of Russia and
the U.S. on Kosovo are fundamental in nature, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists on
Saturday upon the completion of his visit to the U.S.
"For now we do not have a common vision of how this
problem should be resolved," Lavrov said.



http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11216898&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass - February 3, 2007

Kosovo issue must be settled only by negotiations-Lavrov

MOSCOW - Russia is convinced that the Kosovo issue
must be settled only through negotiations, and it is
necessary to look for a variant that will be approved
both by Serbs and Pristina, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said.
Americans have some different view on the problem, the
minister noted. They believe it will be not right to
be slow and it is necessary to settle the issue
through the U.N. Security Council, Lavrov said.
"A variant to impose what is unacceptable on any of
the parties does not suit us," the minister stressed.



http://en.rian.ru/world/20070203/60156154.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti - February 3, 2007

U.S., Russia view Kosovo issue resolution differently - Lavrov

MOSCOW - The views of Russia and the United States on
the resolution of the Kosovo issue are principal in
nature, the Russian foreign minister said Saturday.
Russia has been repeatedly saying that a decision on
independence of Serbia's predominantly Albanian Kosovo
region should satisfy both Kosovar and Serbian
authorities and must be made through negotiations,
while the U.S. has been pushing for the resolution of
the issue through the UN Security Council saying the
region should be granted some form of independence.
"Kosovo is the issue, which in comparison with Iran,
Iraq and the Middle East [issues], has principal
differences in our positions. So far we have no common
vision on the resolution of this issue," Sergei Lavrov
said upon his return to Moscow from Washington, where
he attended the meeting of the Quartet of Middle East
mediators comprising the United Nations, Russia, the
European Union and the United States.
The Russian minister said the possible variant of the
resolution should satisfy both Pristina and Belgrade
but the United States has a different view of the
issue saying that it would be wrong to linger and
resolve the issue within the UN Security Council,
which is expected to vote on a final draft resolution
on Kosovo in March.
On Friday United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari met
with Serbian President Boris Tadic to discuss plans
for Serbia and Kosovo, which were interpreted by both
sides as suggesting a division of the territories, and
foreseeing eventual independence for Kosovo.
Following the meeting Tadic said Serbia will never
recognize Kosovo's independence.
Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security
Council and a traditional ally of Belgrade, has
repeatedly said that sovereignty for the
UN-administered Serbian province of Kosovo could have
negative consequences for unresolved conflicts in the
former Soviet Union that erupted in the early 1990s.
Last November, thousands of Kosovar Albanians attacked
the UN headquarters in the capital, Pristina, over a
delayed decision on their demand for independence.
The region has been a UN protectorate since NATO's
military campaign against Belgrade to end a war
between Serb forces and Albanian separatists in 1999.



=== 2005 ===

KOSOVO: LAVROV A BELGRADO, NO A SOLUZIONI IMPOSTE SU STATUS

(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 7 NOV - Il ministro degli esteri russo, Serghiei
Lavrov, ha detto oggi a Belgrado che Mosca e' contraria a soluzioni
''imposte dall'alto'' sul futuro status del Kosovo, regione
formalmente sotto sovranita' serba, ma di fatto amministrata dall'Onu
fin dalla guerra del 1999 e per la quale la maggioranza albanese
pretende la piena indipendenza. Incontrando i dirigenti serbi prima
di successive tappe in Montenegro e nello stesso Kosovo, Lavrov si e'
dichiarato invece favorevole ''a trattative dirette'' tra serbi e
albanesi sul futuro della regione, nell'ambito di un piu' generale
negoziato internazionale ormai alle viste. Un negoziato che secondo
Mosca - attenta alle ragioni di Belgrado e alla persistente
opposizione serba, almeno ufficiale, alla formalizzazione
dell'indipendenza kosovara - non potra' comunque approdare a
conclusioni in contrasto ''con la Carta dell'Onu e con la risoluzione
1244 del Consiglio di sicurezza'': documenti che, sulla carta,
dovrebbero garantire l'integrita' della Serbia-Montenegro. (ANSA). LR
07/11/2005 15:05


http://en.rian.ru/world/20050708/40872549.html
Russsian Information Agency (Novosti) - July 8, 2005

Europe must deter Balkan crisis escalation: foreign minister

MOSCOW - Russia's foreign minister said Friday that it
was in Europe's interests to prevent an escalation of
the Balkans crisis. "I do not agree that Europe's
problems are all centered around the Balkans," said
Sergei Lavrov. "There are other problems facing
Europe: separatism, ethnic minorities, discrimination,
unsettled border disputes. But many risks are
concentrated in the Balkans, and preventing those
risks from evolving into threats is in all of Europe's
interests."
To this end, the minister said it was essential to
implement all UN Security Council resolutions without
exception, including decisions on Kosovo.
"In terms of Kosovo, it is important that all
provisions on the Serbian minority's rights are
fulfilled, and the rights of all those who had to flee
the province are ensured," said Lavrov.
Lavrov said implementing the 1995 Dayton agreements on
Bosnia and Herzegovina was crucial for bringing
stability to the Balkans, as the agreements "ensure a
fragile balance between people living in Bosnia and
Herzegovina."
"Any departure from the Dayton agreements-stipulated
principles could disrupt the balance and have a domino
effect on neighboring countries," the minister said.
Lavrov said the European Union must play a crucial
role in the stabilization process.
"We have heard assurances that the [G8] summit in
Europe's results will not affect cooperation between
partners. We hope those assurances also refer to the
Balkan problem," said Lavrov.


=== 2004 ===



http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?
prd_id=160&msg_id=5187030&startrow=1&date=2004-12-08&do_alert=0
Russian Information Agency (Novosti) - December 8, 2004

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: KOSOVO STATUS NOT TO BE
SETTLED SOON

SKOPJE - The issue of the final status of Kosovo will
not be settled soon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said following the talks with his Macedonian
counterpart Ilinka Mitreva in Skopje.
According to the Russian minister, the Kosovo problem
can be solved only on a firm legal basis, such as
resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council. It
contains all demands, which should be fulfilled. They
imply security guarantees in the region and the return
of refugees and displaced persons (representatives of
the non-Albanian minority) so that their life in
Kosovo was safe, Sergei Lavrov noted.
"Such conditions have not been provided so far, in
spite of all the UN decisions. The international
community recently boosted its activities in this
region but they have not yielded the desirable result
yet," Mr. Lavrov said.
In his opinion, it is necessary to eliminate all
negative consequences of the March slaughter of
non-Albanians in Kosovo and to create real conditions
for the return of national minorities. The
decentralization of the local self-government bodies
is highly important, as well, the Russian Foreign
Minister added.
Moreover, it is necessary to promote overall dialogue
between Belgrade and Pristina (capital of Kosovo and
Metohija) to implement resolution 1244, he said.
"Kosovo should comply with its standards before the
international community, including Belgrade, starts
tacking its final status. Any impartial assessments
prove that it will not happen soon," Sergei Lavrov
concluded.


http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=10709852
Interfax (Russia) - October 8, 2004

Lavrov reminds Council of Europe of Serb refugees

NEW DELHI - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov,
who is currently on a visit to India, has drawn the
Council of Europe's attention to what he called the
forgotten problem of Serb refugees.
"Serbs remain the largest refugee group in Europe:
500,000 Serb refugees [from the former Yugoslav
republics] are on the territory of Serbia," Lavrov
told a news conference following talks with his Indian
counterpart Natwar Singh in New Delhi on Friday.


http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=923741&PageNum=1
Itar-Tass (Russia) - June 9, 2004

Russia calls for disarming illegal armed groups in Kosovo – Lavrov

MOSCOW - Russia insists on “disarming illegal armed
groups in Kosovo,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
said.
After the talks with his Serbia-Montenegro counterpart
Vuk Draskovic on Wednesday, Lavrov said, “We cannot
admit that the Kosovo Protection Corps turns into a
self-proclaimed army. This corps should be purely
civilian.”
“It is necessary to ensure security in the areas where
ethnic minorities live,” the Russian minister
stressed.
Lavrov said Russia is providing aid to Serbia in
compliance with U.N. Security Council resolution 1244
on Kosovo.
“One of the most important tasks is to create real
humane conditions for the Serbian people, primarily
for the return of refugees to their homes,” the
Russian minister stressed.
“The international presence in Serbia is not so
efficient. In addition to humanitarian aid, Russia is
using its possibilities to build towns for Serbs so
that they can return home,” Lavrov said.
Kosovar authorities “are doing few concrete steps
towards settling the situation in the area. The March
15 events in Kosovo proved of this,” the minister
pointed out.
In his words, “The West understands that it is
necessary to take serious measures in order to improve
the work of the Contact Group.”
Lavrov said, “It is necessary to make serious
amendments to the U.N. Security Council resolution on
Kosovo.” “The mechanisms of the resolution cannot
prove their effectiveness. The Contact Group, which is
designed to facilitate the settlement of the
situation, should take more responsibility,” the
minister emphasised.
Draskovic called for eliminating the causes of ethnic
cleansings in Kosovo, ensuring security and respecting
the rights of 200,000 refugees. In his view, “now it
is necessary to discuss measures to create European
standards in Kosovo.”


http://www.tanjug.co.yu/EYug.htm#Russia%20will%20take%20all%20measures
%20for%20solving%20Kosovo%20crisis%20-%20Lavrov
Tanjug (Serbia-Montenegro) - June 9, 2004

MOSCOW - Russia will continue to take all necessary
measures towards reaching a solution to the crisis in
Kosovo and Metohija and towards a consistent
implementation of United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1244, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said responding to the Tanjug correspondent's
questions on Moscow's new steps towards the
realization of its requests following the tragic
events in Kosovo on March 17-19.
Russia has requested the U.N. Mission in Kosovo and
KFOR to confiscate weapons from the population, disarm
different structures, arrest and prosecute the
organizer and perpetrators of the violence.


http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=9709700
Interfax (Russia) - June 9, 2004

Russia wants major overhaul of Kosovo Contact Group

MOSCOW - Russia will call for major changes to be
introduced in the way the Kosovo Contact Group
operates, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The Kosovo Contact Group comprises Russia, the United
States, Great Britain, Germany and France.
"Russia will urge the Contact Group's other members to
introduce drastic changes in their work and strictly
adhere to all provisions of the UN Security Council's
Resolution 1244 [on Kosovo]," Lavrov said at a news
conference following talks with Foreign Minister of
Serbia and Montenegro Vuk Draskovic in Moscow on
Wednesday.
Lavrov underscored the need for "normal conditions to
be created for all people living in the province. It
is necessary to ensure that the 200,000 Serb refugees
return to this province," he said.
He called on the international community to contribute
"to disarming illegal armed units in Kosovo."
Tuesday's session on the UN Security Council's Contact
Group in Pristina "saw an unpleasant conversation on
the KFOR forces' failure to take advantage of their
powers" to stem sorties by Albanian extremists, Lavrov
said.


http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=9688136
Interfax (Russia) - April 8, 2004

Kosovo rebels should be disarmed by KFOR - Lavrov

MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov believes the rebels in Kosovo should be
disarmed by troops from the Kosovo Force (KFOR).
"We are convinced that KFOR has a very powerful,
toothy and muscular mandate written by NATO, which
should be used to its fullest. If that happens, the
illegal armed groups will be disarmed," Lavrov said
after meeting with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer in Moscow on Thursday.
"There is a need to reassess the situation and bring
order to the area, including disarming the illegal
armed groups," Lavrov said. "As for disarmament, that
is Russia's firm position," he said.
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, in turn, said now is the time
to discuss the international community's strategy for
Kosovo before the status of Kosovo is discussed.
If the people responsible for this violence believe
they will achieve their goals, they are wrong, Jaap de
Hoop Scheffer said.
The NATO secretary general said he believes the NATO
contingent is doing a good job in Kosovo.


Lavrov Says KFOR Must Disarm Illegal Formations In Kosovo-Metohija

Moscow, 8 Apr (Tanjug) - KFOR has the obligation to use its mandate to
disarm illegal armed formations in Kosovo, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei
Lavrov said after a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer in Moscow on Thursday.
Russia believes that KFOR has a powerful, very strict and energetic
mandate, written by NATO and this mandate must be used in full,
Lavrov said in a statement for the RIA Novosti news agency and added
that he had no doubts that if this mandate were applied, illegal
armed formations would soon be disarmed.


http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=645122&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass (Russia) - April 3, 2004

Lavrov urges elimination of terrorist infrastructures in Kosovo

BRUSSELS, April 3 (Itar-Tass) -- The crisis in Kosovo,
which has caused a general worsening of the situation
in the Balkans, has indicated that “this problem
concerns not only Russia, but its partners in the
Russia-NATO Council, too,” Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov said on Friday after a meeting of the
council at the foreign minister level.
“Our positions are identical or close,” he said.
“Russia believes it is important to put an end to
violence in Kosovo, to prevent a repetition of ethnic
cleansing and rule out the very risk of such
phenomena, and to root out terrorist and extremist
infrastructures in the territory,” Lavrov said.
For this the remaining illegal structures of militants
must be eliminated, their disarmament completed and
the instigators of anti-Serbian violence tracked down
and brought to justice.
The Russian foreign minister said that in the final
statement the chairman of the Russia-NATO Council
noted the need for the international community to
exert extra efforts in order to normalize the
situation in Kosovo.


http://www.tanjug.co.yu/EYugWor.htm#Resolution%20of%20Kosovo%20issues%
20requires%20new%20methods,%20Lavrov
Tanjug - April 1, 2004

Resolution of Kosovo issues requires new methods, Lavrov

12:46 MOSCOW , April 1 (Tanjug) - Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said late on Wednesday,
following his Berlin meeting with US Secretary of
State Colin Powell, that it was necessary that new
methods be considered for resolving the situation in
Kosovo.
The Russia network said that Lavrov had confirmed the
situation in Kosovo would be discussed in detail
during a Russian Council - NATO meeting to be held in
Brussels on April 2.


http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?
prd_id=160&msg_id=4129796&startrow=21&date=2004-04-01&do_alert=0
Russian Information Agency (Novosti) - April 1, 2004

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ABOUT THE THREAT TO PEACE
COMING FROM KOSOVO

MOSCOW, April 1 - RIA Novosti. Ethnic cleansing
campaigns in Serbia's autonomous province of Kosovo
threaten to reduce to naught many years of
international efforts to strengthen peace in the
Balkans, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
in an interview with Kommersant.
He believes Kosovo may turn into a European centre of
organised crime, which will inevitably affect the
continent's security. "The recent developments show
what price the world community has to pay for the
lop-sided actions without a sanction of the UN
Security Council," stressed the minister.
He said about the security situation in Europe,
"Conditions must be created for finally liquidating
the cold war structures." In particular, the adapted
CFE treaty must be ratified and enforced without
delay.
"We must not allow a legal vacuum to appear in
European security, as this would be tantamount to
destabilisation in the 'rear' of our joint struggle
against terrorism and other global threats," Sergei
Lavrov pointed out.


http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?
prd_id=160&msg_id=4130843&startrow=11&date=2004-04-01&do_alert=0
Russian Information Agency (Novosti) - April 1, 2004

LAVROV SAYS SECURITY OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN KOSOVO MUST BE ENSURED

MOSCOW, April 1, 2004. (RIA Novosti) - The
international forces in Kosovo must take resolute and
effective measures to ensure the security of the
ethnic minorities in Kosovo, Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell.
The meeting took place on Wednesday within the
framework of the International Conference on
Afghanistan in Berlin. The sides exchanged their views
on a number of current international and regional
problems, including the situation in Kosovo.
Mr. Lavrov said the international forces in Kosovo
must take resolute and effective measures to prosecute
those responsible for the recent violence and
confiscate arms in the area.
Mr. Lavrov noted than the Albanian leaders of Kosovo
must show their readiness to observe the UN Security
Council's resolutions, including resolution 1244 on
the principles of the settlement in Kosovo and the
full normalization of the situation in the area.
The participants in the meeting also considered the
situation in the Middle East. They highlighted that
the international community, including the UN, the EU,
Russia and the United States, needed to work to
prevent the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from
escalating further.
Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Powell stressed the need to resume
the implementation of the road map peace plan.
Mr. Powell and Mr. Lavrov also discussed NATO's
enlargement and questions of interaction in the
non-proliferation sphere.


http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?
prd_id=160&msg_id=4121989&startrow=11&date=2004-03-30&do_alert=0
Russian Information Agency (Novosti) - March 30, 2004

MOSCOW CONCERNED ABOUT KOSOVO DEVELOPMENTS

MOSCOW, March 30, 2004 (RIA Novosti) - As meeting
Albanian Deputy Foreign Minister Luan Haidaraga,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov voiced serious
concerns about the Kosovo developments, the Russian
foreign ministry's information and press department
told RIA Novosti on Tuesday. Their meeting took place
in Moscow on Tuesday as part of bilateral foreign
ministerial consultations.
Mr Lavrov was also concerned about the inability of
the international contingents deployed in the province
to counter radicals.
Mr Lavrov said the absence of clear arrangements for
implementing UN Security Council resolution 1244 was
the main reason behind a recent outburst of violence
in Kosovo. The countries and international
organisations involved will have to work out such
arrangements promptly, emphasised the minister.
The conferees agreed that order and stability must be
restored in Kosovo as soon as possible, while furt<br/><br/>(Message over 64 KB, truncated)