President addresses UNSC, criticizes Pristina's "rude" rep

President Tomislav Nikolic said in New York that he insisted on several important topics during the UN Security Council meeting on Monday.

President addresses UNSC, criticizes Pristina's "rude" rep

President Tomislav Nikolic said in New York that he insisted on several important topics during the UN Security Council meeting on Monday.

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(Tanjug)

According to Nikolic, among those topics was "how to influence Pristina to meet all its obligations under the Brussels agreement."

"I was addressing more the sponsors of independence so that they realize that Albanians must fulfill their obligations because Serbia makes and implements agreements in good faith," the president told Serbia's state broadcaster RTS, Beta has reported.

Nikolic said Serbia must not be allowed to falter, to drop the level of decision-making to local governments, "because there Albanians can have too much influence."

"We should work as before," said Nikolic.

He said that the Security Council session was "very difficult - but each session shows how other countries behave."

"Some countries that have recognized (Kosovo's) independence have adopted much softer rhetoric toward Serbia, and are aware that Belgrade has done a lot, but the US and Great Britain hold their position firmly," he said.

Nikolic said that the representative of Kosovo, Ambassador (to the US) Vlora Citaku spoke "very rudely" and said that the agreements and the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) depended on whether they were "in accordance with the constitution and laws of Kosovo."

"She was bringing us back to the past, she spoke lies about killings of women and civilians," Nikolic said, adding that neither Citaku nor those who "support Kosovo's independence terribly" had any basis at this time to accuse Serbia of anything.

Nikolic said that countries that support Belgrade say it openly, while those who have recognized Pristina's independence speak in "a veiled form - and cannot support the performance of an ambassador who said that Haradinaj is an honorable man."

"I think we have a lot of evidence in our hands, and a good position and we must use it," the president said.

Nikolic said that representatives of "certain countries" want the Security Council to in future meet on Kosovo twice, instead of four times a year, and "had no (good) argument in favor of UNMIK to change its format and for the role of this mission to be transferred to EULEX."

"The Ukrainian ambassador presides over the Security Council. This morning we talked about the similarities between our countries' situations, but he jumped out of it, and spoke about the function of UNMIK as if he were a representative of one of the great countries, in favor of holding fewer sessions, and said that Resolution 1244 does not determine the schedule and the format," Nikolic said.

Nikolic also said those who advocated and defended the views of Serbia did so openly, citing as an example the Russian ambassador who spoke for 20 minutes.

Nikolic reiterated that "Serbia will not recognize Kosovo, regardless of what is offered in return, and no matter what kind of pressure we are exposed to."

He called on all states that have not recognized Kosovo to remain firm in that position regardless of the "shameless pressure."