April 29, 2007: Russia reminded the EU and the UN
that it will stop any attempt to "unilaterally" give Kosovo independence from
Serbia. Several Russian statements in the last ten days have criticized the UN
plan (the plan formulated by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari) as
being hasty and unfair to Serbia. One senior Russian spokesman said the UN plan
"will fail" and pointed to Cyprus as an example where a plan backed by "the
international community" failed to achieve peaceful results. Russia has no
interest in setting a precedent for allowing separatist regions in Europe to
unilaterally secede. The UN has responded by not making a decision, and
refusing to say when it would.
April 25, 2007: Montenegro joined NATO's
Partnership for Peace program.
April 23, 2007: Serbia and Montenegro believe that
more Muslim radicals were operating in Montenegro. Serbia and Montenegro refer
to these groups as "Wahhabis" (after the Sunni sect found in Saudi Arabia).
This follows a couple of recent reports from Bosnia that "Wahhabi" radicals are
aggravating Bosnian Muslims. "Wahhabi" has become a general term for Muslim
radicals in all three countries. One of the Serb reports said that there are up
to 150 radicals in its own Novi Pazar area (southwestern Serbia). On April 20
Serb police killed a man suspected of belonging to one of the groups.
April 19, 2007:
Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Greece, Moldova, and Serbia plan to build a highway around the
Black Sea. The road would ultimately be 4700 kilometers in length. Some of the
construction will consist of modernizing current roads as well as connecting
current major arteries along the Black Sea littoral. The project is regarded as
a means of encouraging trade and economic development.
April 18, 2007: China said that it opposes an
"imposed" solution to Kosovo's final status. China, like Russia, has a veto on
the UN Security Council. As long as
China and Russia oppose independence for Kosovo, there will be none, at least
not an independent recognized by the UN.
