Starovic: Vucic's speech at the UNSC was substantive and rich in arguments; further diplomatic struggle awaits us

State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense Nemanja Starovic, speaking on TV Prva, said that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had spoken substantively at the UNSC session, adding that Serbia faced a serious diplomatic battle in the coming days.

"President Vucic spoke very substantively and forcefully, rich in arguments without excessive emotions, which are not of great use in the world of diplomacy. It is important that, apart from Albin Kurti, we have not heard any objections from representatives of UN members to what President Vucic said. On the contrary, we could hear that they supported the argument, and I would highlight the statement of the US representative, who appealed to the authorities in Pristina to stop the implementation of their unilateral measures and even listed what they condemn," Starovic said.

He emphasized the importance of President Vucic repeatedly emphasizing how difficult and unbearable the situation of the Serbs in Kosovo was and pointed out that this created irreparable damage.

"The fact that the session was convened at short notice represents a small victory for Serbia in the diplomatic field. If the US wanted to prevent the session, they could have, their tacit consent is the first manifestation of measures against Albin Kurti," Starovic said, expressing a belief that this would not be the only measure.

Asked whether last night's UNSC session would be a serious turning point in the policies of important countries regarding the Kosovo issue, he said that no serious person could talk about a major turning point, but that every small step was important to initiate certain processes.

"I want to believe that disciplining Kurti will not stop at allowing this session to take place," he said.

He assessed that the importance of the UNSC session was significant, as well as the fact that it had been public and that diplomatic circles had heard what the President of the Republic of Serbia had said.

He recalled that the President himself, in his initial statements, had said that he had been positively surprised by the presentations of representatives of certain countries, citing France as an example.

Starovic said that it was particularly interesting for him to see analysts in Pristina "saying that last night's UNSC session was a major defeat for Kurti".

"As citizens of Serbia, we can be proud of Vucic's performance, but this is just one battle in a series that we will wage to achieve three political goals - there is no talk of recognizing Kosovo de facto or de jure, there is no talk of supporting their membership in the UN, and we will not allow the persecution of the Serbian population in Kosovo, nor will we allow a humanitarian catastrophe, which is also the point of convergence with our opponents," he stated.

He added that there was a further serious diplomatic battle ahead.

"The coming days and sessions will be challenging; we must seek practical solutions, and I believe we will reach them, hopefully with an adequate level of support from the international community by those actors who, despite our differences, do not want to see a humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo," Starovic emphasized.