Spain protests to Russia over Putin Kosovo remarks
5 hours ago MADRID (AFP) — Spain protested to Russia Friday over remarks by President Vladimir Putin in which he likened the situation in Kosovo to that in Spain's Basque and Catalan regions, said a foreign ministry source. The government summoned the Russian ambassador to express its "surprise" and to call for an explanation for the remarks by Putin, who is vehemently opposed to Kosovo's independence. A unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian majority is expected on Sunday or Monday, just before a key meeting of European Union foreign ministers. A core group of major European Union states -- Britain, France, Germany and Italy -- is expected to recognize it quickly, in concert with the United States. "Aren't you ashamed, you Europeans, to have double standards to solve the same issues in different regions of the world," Putin told a news conference in Moscow. "What's the use of encouraging separatism? People don't want to live in a Spain in the heart of single state. Well, let's support them then!" he said, in reference to the separatist movements in Spain northern Basque Country and eastern region of Catalonia. The armed separatist group ETA is blamed for the deaths of 819 people in Spain during almost four decades of fighting for independence for the Basque region. The Russian ambassador to Madrid told Spain's Europa Press agency that the remarks were not intended as interference in the Spain's internal affairs. "Russia is a friend of Spain and it respects fully respects the political system and Spanish democratic insititutions," he said. Spain is hostile to the idea of unilateral independence for Kosovo, fearing that it could lead to greater instability in the region. "We will not recognise" the unilateral independence of Kosovo, Spain's secretary of state for EU affairs, Alberto Navarro, said in Bratislava early this month.
