Russia keeps up Kosovo pressure

Article report that as arguments rage during the summer of 2008 about Russia’s 'peacekeeping' role in Georgia, Moscow has vowed to keep up a parallel diplomatic battle in the United Nations against Kosovo’s western-backed independence from Serbia.

On the 18 August 2008 in Kosovo, the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the EU signed an agreement enabling the handover of office space and vehicles to the EU's mission known as EULEX. The agreement was a technical agreement, but Serbia and Russia viewed the accord between the UN and the EU in Kosovo as being illegal as it did not have the sanction of a formal vote in the UN Security Council

ESO: Background information: Kosovo declares independence, February 2008 http://www.europeansources.info/record/making-of-a-new-state-in-the-balkans-kosovo/

Website: United Nations Office of the Special Envoy for Kosovo (UNOSEK) http://www.unosek.org/unosek/index.html

Website: European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) http://www.eulex-kosovo.eu/?id=1

Spiegel Online International, 19.8.08: UN Begins Transfer of Kosovo Authority to EU http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,573024,00.html

Serbia: Government: Press Release, 19.8.08: Serbia opposes UNMIK, EULEX deal http://www.srbija.sr.gov.yu/vesti/vest.php?id=47969

Deutsche Welle, 20.8.08: UN-EU Kosovo Handover Illegal, Says Serbian Minister http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3581816,00.html

Serbia: Government: Press Release, 18.8.08: Transfer of jurisdiction from UNMIK to EULEX illegal http://www.srbija.sr.gov.yu/vesti/vest.php?id=47959

Russia Today, 18.11.08: EU takes over from UN in Kosovo http://rt.com/news/

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