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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Kosovo's independence would cause turmoil in the whole world

Belgrade, 5 June 2007

President of the Coordinating Centre for Kosovo-Metohija Vuko Antonijevic voiced hope today that Russia will remain firm in its principled position on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija.

Antonijevic, who is also Assistant Minister for Kosovo, said that this week, for which the US scheduled the voting for a new resolution on Kosovo, will probably not be crucial for the resolution of the province's future status.

He said that US President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to meet this week and added that he does not expect Russia to change its position concerning Kosovo.

The Russia of today has become stronger and it will not give in because it wants to show that it is a great power and that its opinion is important, the President of the Coordinating Centre said.

Antonijevic said that Kosovo's independence would cause turmoil in the entire world and that is why the Serbian government's proposal for Kosovo's substantial autonomy is concrete and can be tested in practice. He reiterated that the proposal of UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari is unacceptable for Serbia.

He said that Serbs and ethnic Albanians can live together in Kosovo, but that the international community is to blame for not having created such an environment in the province.

Before the 1999 bombing, the province was a multiethnic society, but that is no longer the case, Antonijevic pointed out and added that the international community and the Kosovo government have done nothing to enable the return of disabled Serbs. On the contrary, they have done everything to make it impossible.

Antonijevic said that Kosovo Serbs are optimists when it comes to the solution for the province's final status, but in the case of independence, Kosovo would be ethnically cleansed.