MUNICH, Germany — Without forecasting any breakthroughs, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday he thinks Russia wants to resolve sensitive security disputes with the United States, including proposed missile defenses in central Europe.
Gates also predicted Moscow would “react cautiously” if, as expected, Kosovo declares independence from Russian ally Serbia this month. Russia opposes Kosovo’s independence, claiming it would set a precedent worldwide. The United States and many European nations support Kosovo’s statehood.
“My own view is, and it’s just a personal opinion, that I think that the Russians — first of all, they are not going to like it (independence for Kosovo) — but I think that they will react cautiously,” Gates told reporters after a private meeting with Sergei Ivanov, the Russian first deputy prime minister.
Asked by a reporter whether that meant he did not expect Moscow to make “too big of a fuss,” Gates replied, “I didn’t say that. I just said that I thought they would react cautiously.”
Gates and Ivanov met during a break in an international security conference. Both were scheduled to deliver speeches today. Gates said his would focus on the challenge of stabilizing Afghanistan and would emphasize that Islamic extremism in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region is a serious threat to Europe.
Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leadership has said that it will declare independence from Serbia “in a matter of days” but has never specified the exact date. Serbia regards the province as the cradle of its statehood, and expressions of nationalist anger have increased as the independence declaration approached.
Gates said he and Ivanov did not discuss Kosovo but did talk about other contentious issues, including the U.S. plan for placing missile interceptors in Poland and a tracking radar in the Czech Republic.
