Lavrov uses propaganda about the annexation of Crimea to draw parallels with Kosovo’s independence

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov continued the propaganda, this time drawing a non-existent parallel between the annexation of Crimea and the independence of Kosovo. On January 30 of this year, he tried to portray the West as unjust by comparing Kosovo’s independence with the invented referendum in Crimea.

Lavrov made these statements at a press conference that was broadcast in several Russian media outlets as well as in Serbia.

https://rt.rs/rusija/73910-lavrov-kosovo-nije-bilo-referenduma-zapad-sve-resio/

In doing so, he wants to portray the annexation of Crimea differently, when it is known that the Russian army invaded by force, where after a few days the declaration of independence of Crimea from Ukraine was organized in a very suspicious way.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politika.rs/sr/articles/amp/596703

What did Lavrov say?

“If the West wants to separate Kosovo from Serbia, it says that the people’s right to self-determination must be respected. And when Crimea rebelled against a bloody coup a few years later, refusing to cooperate with the rebels and holding a referendum on independence and union with Russia – the West said: “This is not possible, the territorial integrity of the state has been violated,” emphasized Lavrov.

Analysis:

The referendum took place against the backdrop of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. In the referendum, voters were asked whether they wanted to join Russia as a federal subject or whether they wanted to restore Crimea’s 1992 constitution and Crimea’s status as part of Ukraine. The final date and ballot selection were not set until ten days before the referendum. Before, during and after the announcement of the referendum, Russian soldiers occupied Ukrainian public buildings and military installations on the Crimean peninsula. When the referendum was announced, the Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people called for a boycott of the referendum.

The referendum was illegal under the Ukrainian constitution. It is not recognized by most countries, which is usually due to the presence of Russian forces. Thirteen members of the United Nations Security Council voted in favor of a resolution declaring the referendum invalid, but Russia vetoed it and China abstained. Later, a United Nations General Assembly resolution declaring the referendum invalid and reaffirming Ukraine’s territorial integrity was adopted with 100 votes in favor, 11 against and 58 abstentions.

While Kosovo, a sui generis case, in 1999 after a humanitarian crisis, and after the ethnic cleansing where over 1 million Albanian refugees were expelled from their country, NATO was forced to intervene to stop the genocide caused by the butcher of the Balkans, Slobodan Milosevic. , who had also committed atrocious crimes in the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Under the chairmanship of President Ahtisari, supported by the Contact Group, the so-called Troika, a representative from America, the EU and Russia conducted several negotiations in Vienna, at the end of which came the proposal of independence for Kosovo with maximum rights for minorities.

In 2008, Kosovo declared its independence and, according to the International Court of Justice, there was no violation of the international right to independence.

https://www.icj-cij.org/case/141

/G. Venhari – The Geopost