Dimitri Rogozin (Rus): Europe is playing a dangerous game in Kosovo

(B2) Russian politician, graduate of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow, Dimitri Rogozine founded in 1993 a small nationalist party, "The Congress of Russian Communities", then took the presidency of Rodina (homeland) with an economist from the Communist Party , Sergei Glaziev, a party with anti-Western accents until 2006, he had just created a new party "Great Russia" (more nationalist) before being appointed Russian ambassador to NATO.

You are not for the independence of Kosovo. But one cannot prevent a people from separating?

Of course... I will be ready to subscribe to this. And not only in the Balkans: in Corsica, in the Basque Country, in Northern Ireland... And everywhere. It's a domino effect... If we can do it here, we can do it there. The USSR also broke up. Why don't we support Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria... it's the same thing. This example will shatter the world, today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. It's dangerous. It is a violation of all international rights.

But between Albanian and Serb Kosovars, is there an irreversible past?

We must always look for perspectives, possibilities for dialogue. If they don't want to live today,
maybe their children will live together.

Tomorrow they will all live in the European Union?

The EU is not an international of the proletariat (smiles). The basis of a nation is the state. There are mono-ethnic states and
multi-ethnic. Minorities must have their own rights. But not only them. The majority also has its own rights. If the majority wants to live in the common state, why does the minority have the right to separate, to break up the state? Kosovo was created by migrations and demographic movements. Look at Berlin, it is the third Turkish city, one might say. If, tomorrow, the Turks living in Berlin want to create a national state there, who can be against it? It's a very good idea after Kosovo, it's the same thing (smiles).

In Kosovo, do you therefore consider the Eulex mission to be illegal?

Of course. In these delicate questions, it is the UN Security Council which must decide. Change mandate,
it is an improvisation, very dangerous, which can lead to injuries. This leads to disorder. It's like crossing a crossroads at a red light. It is dangerous, because the other can do the same thing.

Would you be ready to return to the region, to protect the Serbs, by integrating the EULEX mission - like other third countries -, or within KFOR - as was the case before?

It's your problem now. Not ours. We warned you. You didn't listen to us. Then taste this soup, yourself! Russia is not going to use its armed force to solve the problems in Kosovo. For us, Kfor has one leader and only one, the UN Security Council. It's not NATO or the EU. Only and only the Security Council.

What initiatives do you intend to take... in the Security Council?

The most important thing is to maintain impartiality and the concrete mandate, based on resolution 1244, defined by the Security Council, to bring back international law. There is no question of redefining Kfor's mandate, it is already defined. Everything else is just improvisation.

So Unmik must remain in place after June?

Yes.

(interview conducted on March 3, 2008 opposite the ambassador's residence)