Standpunten EU en Rusland over Kosovo nog ver uit elkaar (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU i and Russia continue to strongly disagree about the thorny issue of Kosovo's future status, despite a meeting on Wednesday (13 February) aimed at smoothing the differences between them days before Pristina is expected to declare independence.
The EU insists that "the status quo [in Kosovo] cannot be maintained because we want stability in the area," EU foreign affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner i told reporters before the meeting in Slovenia between the so-called EU troika - also including EU president in office, Slovenia's foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel and EU high representative Javier Solana i - and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
"We hope we will be able to convince Russia that the situation is unsustainable," she added.
But Wednesday's talks did not narrow the differences between the two sides' positions as far as Kosovo is concerned, Mr Lavrov told a press conference following the meeting.
"Where our positions differ - and differ fundamentally - this is Kosovo of course (_) Those differences have not been overcome, because those deal with fundamentals of international law," he said.
Most EU states are reportedly ready to recognise Kosovo's independence, expected to be proclaimed in the next few days, most likely on Sunday (17 February).
However, Serbia categorically opposes Kosovo becoming an independent state and has demanded an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the matter on Thursday (14 February).
Serbia's position is backed by Moscow, which insists that recognising the independence of Kosovo - a Serbian province governed by the UN since 1999 - would violate Serbia's territorial integrity and go against international law.
Russia also supports Belgrade's call for an emergency Security Council meeting - although Mr Lavrov said he did not feel "great optimism about tomorrow's session".
Both countries insist that only a solution agreed upon by the UN and not bypassing Serbia's wishes could be acceptable.
However, Russia said it will not take actions against the countries which would make the "mistake" of recognising Kosovo.
"Russia is not resorting to any punishment measures against anyone... This suggestion sounds wild," the Russian foreign minister said on Wednesday.
For its part, the EU underlined the positive aspects of the meeting and avoided mentioning the differences brought up by the Russian foreign minister.
Mr Rupel underlined the talks had been "friendly and sincere", while Ms Ferrero-Waldner said she hoped the European Commission would soon receive a mandate to start working on a new strategic partnership with Russia.
The next EU-Russia meeting is to be held in April in Siberia.