Source: Beta, Tanjug

BELGRADE — Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin has said that his country’s position not to recognize Kosovo as independent was “firm and reliable.”

“It’s a firm and reliable position and we have proved that many times,” he said during a panel dubbed, “From Kosovo to Crimea: Unilateralism and Manipulations of the Right to Self-Determination.”

Chepurin added that “here Russia supports the Serbs,” and would continue to do so.

“Russia’s stance is clear and firm and that is a tradition that does not change,” he said, when asked “under which circumstances” his country would recognize Kosovo.

“There is UN Security Council Resolution 1244, legally binding for everyone in the world, and its essence is that Kosovo is under the sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia,” he added.

“In line with all valid international documents, Kosovo is a part of Serbia,” the Russian diplomat said, and added that “the relationship between Belgrade and Priština represents a completely different issue.”

He argued that, conversely, no such resolution regulates the status of Crimea – a peninsula gifted to Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev, when both Russia and Ukraine were part of the Soviet Union. Chepurin added that the move was not line with the Soviet Constitution.

“Kosovo never before the Second World War had the territory that it has today. Crimea has a statehood tradition going back to the 15th century,” he said.

Chepurin also stated that a coup took place in Kiev and that the new authorities did not receive the backing from all regions of Ukraine.

“The new authorities undertook unilateral steps that diminished Crimea’s autonomy. Later 96 percent of the population of Crimea voted in favor of independence,” he said.

Speaking about the Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center in the southern Serbian town of Nis, Chepurin stressed that it was “neither a military base nor an espionage center of any kind.”

“The agreement on the center was signed a long time ago and this is not about signing something new, but about signing annexes,” he explained, and added that Russia will earmark USD 102 million by 2017 for humanitarian assistance to Serbia.

He asked “why the personnel at the center would not be offered some kind of paper, a document,” but rejected that it would mean giving the Russian experts stationed there diplomatic status.

“Why is the Russian humanitarian center being shown in a negative light,” he wondered, and noted that Russia previously helped Serbia clear its territory of bombs left over from NATO’s attacks in 1999, and also provided assistance during natural disasters.

The ambassador announced that a report on the work of the center will be presented on December 13, and that the equipment that has been acquired for it will be shown then.

“Everything is transparent at the center, I have invited many ambassadors to come and see for themselves,” Chepurin concluded.