NATO-Russia Council meets with Kosovo Troika

The NATO-Russia Council met on 15 October with the members of the EU-US-Russia Troika for a discussion on the current efforts to achieve an agreement between the Kosovo Albanian leadership and Serbia.

Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, representing the European Union, Ambassador Frank Wisner, representing the United States and Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharshenko of Russia briefed the members of the Council on the Troika process.

They said that the role of the Troika is to facilitate and mediate the negotiations and it will be for the parties to generate new ideas providing a possible way forward.

In the discussion, the members of the Council reiterated their support to the negotiating efforts of the EU-US-Russia Troika and expressed the hope that the new period of engagement between Belgrade and Pristina will lead to an agreement on Kosovo’s future status.

A new round of U.N. Troika-mediated negotiations on the Kosovo status between Belgrade and Pristina was conducted in Brussels on Sunday 14 October. The final statement issued by the U.N. Troika said the negotiating parties outlined their positions on the Kosovo status. Serbia supported its concept of an autonomous area with broader powers, and Albania explained how Pristina sees “the consolidation of friendship and good neighborliness between two independent countries observing all rights of ethnic minorities.” The negotiating parties decided to hold the next meeting in Vienna on October 22.