Daciq: US ambassador must not get involved in Serbia's affairs

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic said Thursday that the American ambassador, as well as other ambassadors, should not be involved in Serbia's internal affairs.

He made these comments after US Ambassador to Belgrade Kyle Scott's response to statements by Serbian Defence Minister Alexander Vulin, who previously praised a former Serbian general for his role during NATO bombings on Serbia in 1999, stressing that Serbia no longer needs to be ashamed of what happened in Kosovo at the time.

Serbian Minister Vulin the weekend we left behind spoke at a meeting of former Yugoslav Army 3rd Military Battalion, in which Vladimir Lazarevic, former Yugoslav Army Chief of Staff in Pristina and Nikola Shainovic, Yugoslavia's former deputy prime minister, both convicted of war crimes in Kosovo by the International Court in The Hague.

US Ambassador Kyle Scott wrote on the social twitter network that “unfortunately, months of work on improving Serbia's image in the United States could be damaged by a statement”.

Serbian Minister Voulin said Serbia “has not caused wars” and that former General Lazarevic is a free man.

Former Serbian General Vladimir Lazarevic and politician Nikola Shainovic were sentenced for their role in the campaign against Kosovo Albanians, during which more than 10,000 people were killed, thousands more disappeared and more were expelled from the country, more than 800 thousand Albanians. The nearly two-year war in Kosovo ended with the intervention of NATO troops.

On Thursday, Serbian diplomacy chief Ivica Dacic said the American ambassador should not be involved in Serbia's internal affairs, while stressing that statements about The Hague convict Vladimir Lazarevic cannot harm relations between the two countries. Stressing that he has sentenced the “prison sentence”, the Serbian minister said that “Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj will suffer it, while Ante Gotovina has been released from the indictment for crimes and is getting ready to become president of Croatia, while you now see Naser Oric was acquitted of the charges”, he said.

Serbian Minister Daciq's comments do during the work of Belgrade's “Forum for Security”, in which NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gotttelecomr is taking part, to discuss “Parterity on the topic NATO-Serbia helps security in the Western Balkans”.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabiq said at this forum that Serbia is reliable partner NATO, but will continue to remain impartial from a military point of view.

It reaffirmed Serbia's goal of European integration, but also preserving good relations with Moscow, Serbia's traditional ally, a desire of Serbian nationalists who disagree with Kosovo's independence. She said the main security challenge is Kosovo “, which Serbia experiences emotionally”.

Moscow continues to support Serbian claims on Kosovo and refuses as well as Serbia to recognise its declared independence in February 2008. Belgrade, however, is involved in a process of talks on normalising relations with Kosovo in exchange for drawing closer to European structures.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Moghherni said Wednesday she expects visible progress in talks between Kosovo and Serbia by the end of next year.

Serbia opened membership talks in January 2014 as a result of talks with Kosovo, which already signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, but remains the last in the region in integration processes. / VoA