Slovenia calls Serbian ambassador after Vuciqi's Kosovo statements

Slovenia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has invited the Serbian ambassador to the conversation because of statements made by Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq.

Vuciq, during Slovenian President Borut Pahor's recent visit to Belgrade, said Slovenia, as well as other states that recognise Kosovo, has violated Serbia's territorial integrity.

Slovenia's MPJ invited Serbian Ambassador to Ljubljana Zorana Vlatkoovic to discuss these statements Vuciqi made during a media conference concerning Pahor's visit to Serbia.

Slovenian Ambassador to Serbia Damjan Bergant has also been invited to the same topic, the Slovenian Ministry for N1 said.

The Serbian president, after meeting with Pahor in Belgrade, was asked by reporters why Serbia is not imposing sanctions on Russia and he had responded by asking: “si to explain to citizens that Serbia is imposing sanctions on Russia, not Slovenia?”.

“Russia has not violated Serbia's territorial integrity. Slovenia has violated it. And as you can see, we have good reports with Slovenia”, Vuciq said, and added that Slovenia, such as France, Germany and the US that recognise Kosovo's independence, which according to Serbia's position, is violating international law, the UN Charter and Security Council Resolution 1244.

The Slovenian Foreign Ministry said it was very surprised by Vuciqi's statements.

“Once again, we reiterate our stance regarding Kosovo, which Slovenia recognises as an independent and sovereign state. In this direction, we express our expectations that Serbia in the future will not challenge our position against Kosovo because Slovenia's support for Kosovo is not directed against Serbia. We also express controversy that recognition of Kosovo by Slovenia is compared to Russian aggression against Ukraine”, Ljubljana's statement said.

The Slovenian Foreign Ministry also said it expects current co-operation with Serbia to continue and that Ljubljana will continue to respond for communication with Belgrade at all levels.

“We want countries to continue developing friendly reports and together look for opportunities to resolve open issues in the Western Balkans, which would reduce tensions in the region. This would enable Kosovo and Serbia to make progress on the road to the EU”, the report said.

Kosovo has declared independence in 2008 and has since been recognised by 117 countries in the world. / REL/