Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia open for new negotiations on Kosovo

Belgrade/Moscow, 8 June 2007

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said today that he will present new ideas for solving the Kosovo-Metohija status issue during his meeting tomorrow with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the 11th International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.

Vojislav Kostunica

Kostunica said in an interview with Russian news agency Itar-Tass that consultations with President Putin will be of great importance not just for Serbia and added that during the meeting which is taking place at the fateful moment he intends to launch new ideas testifying to Serbia’s openness for new negotiations on Kosovo-Metohija.

He said that Belgrade has fresh initiatives that on the one hand provide us a way to get out of the dead-end and on the other do not threaten peace and stability and territorial integrity of the Serbian state.

Serbia’s position is based on principles as it requires a compromise solution to the existing disputed issue that is acceptable for Belgrade and Pristina and based on international law principles, Serbian Prime Minister said noting that the Serbian position is not just principle-based but also open.

As I pointed out several times, particularly with officials who do not share the same positions, the solution to the Kosovo issue is not a difficult task as only principles of international law need to be respected, Kostunica stressed.

He noted that if those principles are ignored and if the UN Charter is ignored, a compromise will hardly be achieved.

According to Kostunica, the defence of this negotiating position and the evasion of creating a precedent hazardous for international law and other states are mainly thanks to principle support of Russia, and above all, President Vladimir Putin.

Kostunica said that now is the crucial moment in solving the Kosovo issue and recalled that negotiations lasted a long time, led by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari, but yielded no result mostly because from the very start Ahtisaari was unwilling for a compromise to be reached.

According to Ahtisaari, imposing solution upon one of the sides would have been a way out, which made negotiations more difficult, Kostunica said.

Stating that there were actually no real negotiations, he noted that Serbia was faced with an attempt to get an imposed solution which had been prepared earlier that the Albanian side would fully support as its realization would have provided independence for the province.

We rejected that plan as not only is it unacceptable for Serbia’s interests but it is unacceptable from the point of view of international law principles, the Serbian Prime Minister highlighted adding that some European countries oppose attempts to take away one part of Serbia’s territory.

They are afraid that independence of Kosovo would be applied on their territory, he said and warned that creating another Albanian state in the Balkans would cause a chain-reaction which would result in the emergence of a series of new states, including those in Europe.

On the old continent there is no unity over the Kosovo problem, it creates a line of division between European states. Only Washington has no doubts, it is all clear to them and everything is allowed, Kostunica said and added that during many years ethnic Albanians and their leaders have been told that Kosovo-Metohija should be independent and that there is no other solution.

At the same time, the Prime Minister said that Serbian authorities are doing everything they can to prevent one-sided moves of third countries concerning the possible diplomatic recognition of Kosovo.

We are doing everything to prevent that and on one hand we hope that no one will risk to take actions without the consent of the UN Security Council, which would be very dangerous, and on the other hand, we believe that the Security Council itself will not adopt a resolution that opens the way to Kosovo's independence, the Serbian Prime Minister said.

If some countries recognise Kosovo's independence after Russia's possible veto, that will be illegitimate for Serbia and will have no consequences, according to Kostunica.

He said that Serbia has already made decisions as to how to react to confirm that Kosovo is its integral part and Kosovo Serbs its citizens.

He pointed out that Kosovo is becoming one of the most important international issues, which was shown by the G-8 summit at which no solution has been found.

Until six months ago, no one expected that Kosovo will become equally important as the issue of creating a US missile shield in Europe and global warming, but now everyone is aware that it is not only about Kosovo, but about the general approach in resolving similar conflicts, Kostunica explained.

He also recalled that at the beginning of 2006 president Putin said that Kosovo-Metohija was not a unique case and that a wrong solution of that question would be a dangerous precedent for many other countries.

The Serbian Prime Minister said that he will talk to the Russian President about key issues of economic bilateral cooperation, such as energy, infrastructural projects, and banking, where cooperation has already begun and should be improved.

For us it is very important to expand the Russian economic presence in Serbia, among other areas in the privatisation processes, greenfield investments and development of banking services.

Underlining the great importance which Serbia attaches to the Memorandum on construction of the main gas pipeline signed, the Prime Minister said that the issue of construction of a Russian gas storage in Serbia will probably be discussed, as well as the question of the Serbian Oil Industry and projects in the field of infrastructure.

In the interview to the Russian state news agency, Kostunica said that the factor of centuries' old ties between the Russian and the Serbian peoples should not be underestimated, since they have common ethic roots, common values and belong to the same Christian religion.