Live-blogging the Security Council
ILMARS ZNOTINS/AFP/Getty Images The lounge outside the U.N. Security Council chamber is bustling with cameramen and beefy security personnel. The Council is scheduled to hold a closed door meeting on Kosovo this afternoon, and top Serbian and Kosovar diplomats are in town to plead their case. Russia is signaling that it’s ready to draw a ...
ILMARS ZNOTINS/AFP/Getty Images
The lounge outside the U.N. Security Council chamber is bustling with cameramen and beefy security personnel. The Council is scheduled to hold a closed door meeting on Kosovo this afternoon, and top Serbian and Kosovar diplomats are in town to plead their case. Russia is signaling that it's ready to draw a hard line. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov—an old Council hand himself—hinted yesterday that independence for Kosovo would have serious ramifications on other issues:
A unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo and illegal recognition of this independence will definitely have consequences because I'm sure it will trigger a chain reaction in the Balkans and other regions. And those who nurture such plans should be fully aware of their responsibility for such consequences.
The lounge outside the U.N. Security Council chamber is bustling with cameramen and beefy security personnel. The Council is scheduled to hold a closed door meeting on Kosovo this afternoon, and top Serbian and Kosovar diplomats are in town to plead their case. Russia is signaling that it’s ready to draw a hard line. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov—an old Council hand himself—hinted yesterday that independence for Kosovo would have serious ramifications on other issues:
A unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo and illegal recognition of this independence will definitely have consequences because I’m sure it will trigger a chain reaction in the Balkans and other regions. And those who nurture such plans should be fully aware of their responsibility for such consequences.
A key issue the Council will consider is whether new U.N. authorization is needed for a planned EU stability mission to the province. Russia says yes; most of the EU says no. Stay tuned…
David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist
More from Foreign Policy


Is Cold War Inevitable?
A new biography of George Kennan, the father of containment, raises questions about whether the old Cold War—and the emerging one with China—could have been avoided.


So You Want to Buy an Ambassadorship
The United States is the only Western government that routinely rewards mega-donors with top diplomatic posts.


Can China Pull Off Its Charm Offensive?
Why Beijing’s foreign-policy reset will—or won’t—work out.


Turkey’s Problem Isn’t Sweden. It’s the United States.
Erdogan has focused on Stockholm’s stance toward Kurdish exile groups, but Ankara’s real demand is the end of U.S. support for Kurds in Syria.