By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Serbia has said it will not make a choice between its long-standing ally Russia and the European Union (EU).
“Russia is our main economic partner. Our political priority is to join the European Union, but I can see no discrepancy between maintaining relations with Russia as our traditional partner and our path towards the EU,” Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic Jeremic said Monday.
Jeremic’s statement, carried by Slovak newspaper SME, followed the country’s presidential polls, which gave the country’s incumbent pro-European President Boris Tadic a narrow victory over pro-Moscow nationalist Tomislav Nikolic. Russia backs Belgrade’s desire to see the breakaway southern province of Kosovo remain a part of Serbia.
The EU announced after the polls that it was now seeking to speed up Belgrade’s progress towards EU membership.
The minister said he did not rule out that Serbia could revise its relations with EU countries that acknowledge any future declaration of independence by Kosovo.
He also reiterated Serbia’s position that any declaration of sovereignty by Kosovo, something the Albanian-dominated province has pledged to do within weeks, would be illegal.
“This would run counter to Serbia’s constitution and UN Security Council Resolution 1244 on Kosovo. If this happens, Serbia will have no other choice than to defend its constitution using all available political and economic means,” the minister said.
“Force might be used under certain conditions but we have endured too many wars. The incumbent government will not resort to force,” he added.
Kosovo has been a UN protectorate since 1999, when a NATO bombing of Belgrade ended a bloody war between ethnic Albanian and Serb forces.