Ukraine and Russia clashing over Kosovo precedent; Transdniestria

Arseniy Yatsenyuk (shown) forgot to look up the word "precedent" in the dictionary, suggest Russian MP Andrei Klimov

KIEV (Tiraspol Times) - Ukraine will only support sovereignty of Kosovo in case the UN passes an appropriate resolution on it, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced at a news conference in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

" - If the UN passes a resolution on it, we shall support Kosovo as a sovereign state," he said, adding that this was not his personal opinion but that "it is Ukraine’s official position."

The Ukrainian foreign minister also claimed that the situation in Kosovo is unique and therefore, according to his opinion, it should not be applied to other "troubled regions like Transdniestria, South Ossetia, or Nagorno Karabakh."

The statement was made at a forum in Kiev called “Settlement of frozen conflicts in the context of security and stability in Black Sea area.” As is the norm with international forums that attempt to settle the future status of Pridnestrovie (Transdniestria), no official representatives from Pridnestrovie were invited to speak, and recent reforms in human rights and democracy-building were not taken into account.

Russian reaction: Open a dictionary, Yatsenyuk...

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s statement on Kosovo can be connected with the fact that Ukraine aspires to NATO and European Union membership, and therefore wants to mimic the West in its positions. This was the response which Andrei Klimov, a member of the Russian State Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs, gave to Yatsenyuk's statements.

" - Open a dictionary. The word precedent is defined as an occasion or an event that took place in the past and can serve as an example or ground for analogous action in the present. A unitary state can disintegrate without approval of the UN Security Council grounding on an opinion of only one of the parties. It is a precedent, which is quite dangerous for Ukraine," Klimov believes.

" - If there is such an initiative regarding Crimea and it is supported by some countries, not necessarily by Russia, Ukraine will have a lot of problems," the MP cited the analogy.

Klimov also noted that, according to expert estimations, if a precedent is established, within next 15-20 years 50-60 more countries will appear on the global map, and they would not be consignatory parties to any international treaties.

Ethnically based state considered "dead-end"

" - Attempts to establish states on ethnic or language grounds is a dangerous way that can bring to a dead-end," said Andrei Klimov in an apparent reference to the Republic of Moldova.

In 1991 Moldova declared independence after having passed a language-law which the OSCE described as discriminatory against the Slavic minority of mostly Russian-speakers. Prior to independence, Moldovans had led a campaign aimed at forcing Russian speakers to leave so Moldova could be an "ethnically pure country", in the words of a leading Moldovan Popular Front spokesman. The campaign was carried out with slogans such as "Suitcase-Trainstation-Russia" and included widespread violence against ethnic Russians.

As a result of the hate campaign against Russian speakers, the number of ethnic Russians in Moldova fell from 13% of the population in 1989 to just 5.8% in 2004.

Partly in order to safeguard the human rights of ethnic minorities, Pridnestrovie (Transdniestria) broke from Moldova in 1990, one year before Moldova became independent. Although functioning as a 'de facto' separate state, Pridnestrovie's independence has not yet been recognized internationally.

See also:
» Transdniester and Kosovo should be treated the same, says Putin
» Parallels with Pridnestrovie: Euro MP says Kosovo not unique
» U.S. Congressman points to double standards over Transdniestria, Kosovo