The US presidential staff has tried to explain Barack Obama’s mentioning in his recent address of a Kosovo referendum, one that was actually never held. Officials in Washington have never admitted the error.
An official letter, sent in response to the Russain news agency TASS request for explanations for Barack Obama’s address, points out that the US President meant a unique situation whereby Kosovo’s independence had become a result of years long exhaustive talks and cooperation, with the international community playing the leading role.
The official letter also points out that a special legal regime was introduced in Kosovo by the UN decision and a political process was launched to determine Kosovo’s future status, including Kosovo’s likely independence.
The process, according to the US presidential staff, provided for a free and fair voting on setting up a representative Kosovo parliament that legally proclaimed independence after all possibilities had been exhausted.
Earlier, Barack Obama delivered an address in Brussels to point out specifically that Kosovo had withdrawn from Serbia following a referendum in keeping with international law and in close cooperation with the United Nations and Kosovo neighbour states.
That prompted the Russian Foreign Ministry to post a commentary on its website to express Moscow’s surprise at the US President’s reference to a referendum that was never held.
Russian diplomats also said no referendum had been actually held in Kosovo, to say nothing of the one that had allegedly been agreed with the international community. The Russian Foreign Ministry points out that the decision on separating from Serbia was made by the so-called parliament in Pristina in 2008.
Russia surprised at Obama’s false claim that Kosovo secession involved referendum
The Russian Foreign Ministry is surprised by US President Barack Obama’s statement regarding an independence referendum in Kosovo. Obama’s speech delivered at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels has raised a lot of eyebrows as US President claimed yesterday that Kosovo held a UN-assisted referendum for self-determination. He used this example to hit out against Russia’s reunification with Crimea. The president also argued that the comparison between Crimea and Kosovo makes no sense.
“Moscow has taken note of the fact that US President Barack Obama, in rationalizing ‘independence’ of Kosovo and Metohija (Serbia) declared in circumvention of UN Security Council resolution 1244 in his speech in Brussels on March 28, mentioned some referendum on this issue allegedly held in coordination with the UN and the neighboring countries,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement available on its website.
“This allegation by the US president causes perplexity, as no plebiscite, not to mention one agreed upon with the international community, was held on Kosovo’s independence. The decision on secession from Serbia was made by the so-called ‘parliament’ in Pristina in 2008,” it said.
Obama falsely claims Kosovo secession involved UN-backed referendum
Obama’s speech delivered at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels has raised a lot of eyebrows as US President claimed yesterday that Kosovo held a UN-assisted referendum for self-determination. He used this example to hit out against Russia’s reunification with Crimea. The president also argued that the comparison between Crimea and Kosovo makes no sense.
“Russian leaders have further claimed Kosovo as a precedent, an example, they say of the West interfering in the affairs of a smaller country … But NATO only intervened after the people of Kosovo were systematically brutalized and killed for years.”
“And Kosovo only left Serbia after a referendum was organized not outside the boundaries of international law, but in careful cooperation with the United Nations with Kosovo’s neighbors. None of that even came close to happening in Crimea,” Obama said at the EU-US summit, thus turning his speech into a highly discussed issue.
Experts unanimously agree with the president, yet they also point out that “none of that came close to happening in Kosovo as well.
Kosovo’s provincial assembly did hold a referendum on the possibility of secession in 1991, but it was not done with UN backing, nor did the US or anyone else even recognize the result. Albania was the long state to recognize the vote, and it was never cited as justification in NATO’s 1999 war.
The only other referendum to take place in Kosovo came in 2012, under Obama’s watch. In that vote, 99% of Kosovar Serbs in several northern districts voted against being part of an independent Kosovo. As with the 1991 vote, the US rejected its validity.
Dr. James Ker-Lindsay, a Senior Research Fellow on the Politics of South East Europe at the London School of Economics gave his comment to Breitbart London on Obama’s gaffe: “I think one must assume that this was indeed an error. However, it really does seem to be an incredible mistake to have made. Surely there must have been someone at hand who would have known that there was no UN organised referendum in Kosovo. It really was not that long ago.”
So far, the White House has not issued any retraction or correction.
