The Media Mirror: what's in today's Russian newspapers?

The Russian press today writes about taking sides over Kosovo, the upcoming informal summit of the CIS leaders in Moscow and a new draft constitution.

ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA has an article by Konstantin Kosachev, the Chairman of the State Duma’s International Committee who writes that the Kosovo case may be seen as a special case only in one sense – unlike all other self-declared states Kosovo had a promise of independence, no matter how illegitimate it was, from a group of strong nations.

The author states that in the modern world, after Kosovo, the ability to project power is becoming stronger than law and justice. Many say the Kosovo conflict is between the West and Russia when in truth it’s a conflict between the West and International Law. Moscow is on the side of the law. Kosachev says it’s dangerous to be on the side of the law against someone projecting power, but that is the way of a truly responsible nation, a true world power.

KOMMERSANT writes that separatist groups in the world, one after another, recognise Kosovo or attempt to do so. The paper says they see an example in Pristina. 

Meanwhile, in a report from Belgrade TRUD quotes a well-known Serbian journalist Milovan Brkich who says that it's not a state they are creating in Kosovo at the moment but a strange marionette entity under the U.S. protectorate. But the goals of the Americans and the Kosovars are totally different. Two to three months from now the Kosovars will start burning American flags. There will be clashes, not between the Albanians and the Serbs but between the Americans and the Albanians.

VREMYA NOVOSTEY writes about the upcoming informal summit of the CIS leaders in Moscow and quotes Andrey Denisov, the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia. “The Commonwealth of Independent States is alive and is going to be alive for a very long time. Its flexibility is the reason for its longevity. The CIS is not an organisation aimed at integration, we have others for that. It is a forum of nation states, united by common history,” he said.

KOMMERSANT again, with a comment on Myanmar, where a new draft constitution maintains the leading role of the military in national affairs. Dr. Aleksey Kirichenko from Moscow State University say that: the military is the most powerful corporate player in Myanmar. A constitution is a positive step anyway, because even a tightly-controlled election widens public participation in government.