German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a interview for Deutschland-Radio, said that throughout the process of resolving Kosovo status for many years, the International Community has been always cooperating closely with Russia, including the recommendations of the Ahtisaari Plan for the supervised independence for Kosovo.

 

"Nevertheless, we have given many cooperation offers to Russia. For example, on resolving the status of Kosovo, we have worked very closely together with Russia for many years, including the drafting of the Ahtisaari Plan. Russia has always been present. At the UN, a resolution has been approved on the basis we have acted until now, and regarding the recognition, we have a resolution, which was co-endorsed by Russia, so we are not talking about the exclusion of Russia at all here. Germany took additional steps to organize one more round of negotiations," said Merkel.

Chancellor Merkel during the interview criticized the reaction of Russia in Georgia. "Germany and the European Union have made an actual assessment regarding the reaction in the South Ossetia conflict, where we believe Russia's actions were inappropriate. We also consider the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as a violation of international law."

German Chancellor believes that Moscow is interested to continue to cooperate with the West however she adds "We need to an understanding system of values in order to build cooperation, where the West has always been committed to, now and in the past."