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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Starting real negotiations on Kosovo is only way out

Belgrade, 28 March 2007

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said today in an interview with Russian agency Rosbalt that previous negotiations on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija led by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari were a poorly directed play and that the only way out is to start real negotiations.

Vojislav Kostunica

Kostunica stressed that direct talks between Belgrade and Pristina represent the only way to find a sustainable solution to Kosovo because “it will not be Ahtisaari and his team who will live in Kosovo and in Serbia, it will be us; that’s why we should talk directly.”

Speaking on the negotiations so far, the Serbian Prime Minister said that they failed because Ahtisaari’s proposal is formally one-sided and not representing results of negotiations, while at the same time being a plan violating the UN Charter and basic principles of international law.

Ahtisaari did not fulfill any of the terms from his mandate, which was to find a compromise solution within the framework of international law. On the contrary, from the very beginning he even gave statements that a compromise was impossible, which he also showed by organising only two meetings on the status issue while other meetings concerned status-neutral issues, the Prime Minister said.

Kostunica also noted that international standards and the issue of status must not be separated by any means. Status for Albanians, Americans and others is an independent Kosovo, but they cannot prove that Kosovo Serbs will live better in that independent Kosovo better than they live in Serbia, Kostunica stressed and added that “litmus test for the way Serbs live in the province was the 2005 election, in which a minor number of Serbs participated.”

Kostunica stressed that threats of violence occur in Kosovo every day, adding that Albanians separatists are intimidating Serbs and other non-Albanian population in the province, so foreign diplomats say that Kosovo Albanians will respond with violence should Kosovo not become independent. What else would you call it than stimulating separatism and terrorism, Kostunica stressed.

Speaking about Russia’s position regarding Kosovo-Metohija, Kostunica stressed that it is of great importance and that from the very beginning Moscow took a principled stance towards Kosovo and has stuck to it ever since.

Moscow does not see the Kosovo affair only as a regional or an exclusive Serbian issue, but as an international and universal one, said Kostunica adding that in Russia Serbia’s stance has been met with understanding.

He recalled that in January 2006 Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the UN Charter and one of its fundamental principles regarding the protection of territorial unity must be respected and that Serbia cannot be made an exception to the rule.

Each country is a unique one, but rules and laws applied to unique countries must be universal, otherwise the breaching of the UN Charter would make a perilous precedent which may again be repeated later, emphasised the Prime Minister and added that “this is a clear and strong position which Serbia fully supports”.

Kostunica stressed that Serbia will never agree to Kosovo-Metohija’s independence if anyone attempts to carry it out by tearing away the province and breaching international law and underlined his belief that compromise is attainable.

He also said that the perception of the “Kosovo issue” has considerably changed having in mind that at first the American point of view was a prevailing and dominant one, whereas later on debates began in many countries, such as in the Slovak parliament, at which occasion an idea began to emerge indicating that an independent Kosovo-Metohija may essentially alter the map of Europe and the world “when other territories also get severed using this precedent”.

“There have been cases in the world when states “fought” for deserts or islands in the midst of an ocean, however, the case of Kosovo is different – for us, Kosovo-Metohija is the foundation of our culture and history, it is a part of us and we cannot renounce it since we would thus be renouncing our very selves”, concluded Kostunica.