MOSCOW, March 28. /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow is astonished by US President Barack Obama’s claims that a decision on independence of Kosovo and Metohija district from Serbia was taken upon a referendum and after reaching consent with the UN and neighboring countries.

“Officials in Moscow noticed that President Obama, who sought in his speech in Brussels on March 26 to justify the so-called “independence” of Kosovo and Metohija from Kosovo in bypass of UN Security Council’s Resolution 1244, mentioned a “referendum” that allegedly was held upon consent from the UN and neighboring countries,” Russia's Foreign Ministry's spokesman said.

"Kosovo only left Serbia after a referendum was organized not outside the boundaries of international law, but in careful cooperation with the United Nations and with Kosovo’s neighbors,” Obama said in a speech at Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. “None of that even came close to happening in Crimea," he added.

International observers called this statement “an incredible mistake” that was based on bogus information.

“This claim on the part of the US President causes astonishment since there was no plebiscite in Kosovo, all the more so a plebiscite coordinated with the international community,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “A decision of breaking away from Serbia was taken by “parliament” in Pristina in 2008.”

“However, we can only agree that fateful decisions should be taken through referendums, the way it was done in Crimea, not in private,” he said.