BANJA LUKA, September 21. /TASS/. Moscow rejects any attempts to make the Balkan nations chose between Russia and the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday after his talks with President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik.

"The policy of some external players who are seeking to present the Balkan nations with a choice - to side either with the West or with Russia - is absolutely unacceptable," he stressed.

"Along with Europe and the United States, Russia was a co-author of the Dayton Accords (that put an end to the conflict between the Moslem, Croatian and Serbian communities in Bosnia-Herzegovina - TASS), a co-initiator of [United Nations Security Council] Resolution 1244 on the Kosovo settlement," Lavrov recalled. "And we see no reasons to stop this cooperation in order not to make a subject of contention between Russia and the West out of the Balkans once again."

Touching on the problems still facing the Balkans, he cited Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro. "We are convinced that these problems are to be settled on the basis of mutual consent of the parties concerned and with respect to the opinion of people living in these countries," he underscored.