By SPA
Washington : The United States showed frustration Friday with Russia’s policy toward Kosovo, with one senior official calling it “cynical.”
“I think the Russians have pursued a fairly cynical policy,” Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said, referring to the crisis involving Russian ally Serbia over Kosovo’s declaration of independence.
Serb rioters opposed to Western support for Kosovo’s independence set fire to the U.S. embassy in Belgrade on Thursday. The incident prompted angry protests from the United States and the United Nations, but Russia said the violence was understandable.
“They’re not in Kosovo, they’re not doing anything to help the Kosovars. So they’re kind of on the sidelines contributing mostly unhelpfully,” Burns, the third-ranking U.S. diplomat, told Fox News when asked if Russia was causing trouble.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack was more diplomatic. “Would we have wished that the Russians could play a more helpful and constructive role? Absolutely,” he told reporters. “We would hope that they look forward, not backward, with respect with what has happened. We’ll see. We will continue working with them on a whole variety of other issues.”
The United States needs Russian support for a third package of U.N. sanctions against Iran regarding its nuclear program and with multilateral disarmament talks with North Korea.