Vucic: Serbia did not seek the dissolution of the FR Yugoslavia, it was a real international conspiracy

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated today that Serbia is not asking anything from Montenegro, while they recognized Kosovo, that is, 14 percent of the territory of the Republic of Serbia, thereby violating the United Nations Charter.

Vucic repeated that he does not want to participate in holiday celebrations in Montenegro, but that he congratulates them on all holidays.

“I congratulate Montenegro on all holidays, but I do not wish to attend the celebrations. They did not congratulate me on Sretenje. President Milatovic congratulated me with a three-day delay, I understand, a mistake happened, it was not intentional. I believe that is the case. I always congratulate them on every holiday, I have no problem with that, but I do not want to participate in it. I did not offer any revisionism, only facts. What is untrue in what I said? They did not deal with the facts. I was more precise, so I said that they seceded, left the state we had, and before that they forced the people in power to accept a confederal model of governance, so that it would become a state union, in order to prepare the secession of Kosovo. The FR Yugoslavia was a serious federal state until people from Belgrade and Podgorica turned it into a state union, and then destroyed the state union and created two states. What is untrue about that?” Vucic said.

He then referred to the fact that Montenegro recognized Kosovo only two years after separating from Serbia.

“Is it true that Montenegro recognized independent Kosovo only two years after leaving the state union with Serbia? It is true. Is it true that we remained silent and congratulated them when they joined NATO? Just do not force us to join NATO. Did we ever stand in their way, do anything against them? What exactly is untrue in what I wrote? When people from the DPS attack me, that is praise for me. My job is to protect Serbs and Serbia, at least from lies. I tell them that we will not take or ask anything from them, unlike you, who recognized as an independent part of another country 14 percent of someone else’s territory, namely the territory of the Republic of Serbia in accordance with the United Nations Charter. It was not our brotherhood that you trampled on, but the UN Charter. What is inaccurate about that? The same as what the Americans, Germans, British, and everyone else did. Except we did not expect it from Montenegro,” he stated.

Asked to comment on statements by former Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic against the Serbian Orthodox Church, Vucic said they had tried to make the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro be called the Orthodox Church in Montenegro so that everyone would go there and it would not be the Serbian Orthodox Church.

“Many nations in the territory of the former Yugoslavia built their identity on an anti-Serbian position and a position against the Serbian Orthodox Church. They always say Orthodox Church, not Serbian Orthodox Church. But it is the Serbian Orthodox Church, it can be whichever metropolitanate it wants. I understand Djukanovic’s hatred for the Serbian Orthodox Church, in that regard he has been principled for the last 20 years, just as we cannot accept those who want to present themselves as a legal church while being registered as a taxi organization or some association. As for terrorists, calculate how many people Montenegrin clans have killed in the last 20 years, including among themselves. How many innocent people they killed in cafes and restaurants, but we are managing to keep things under control,” the Serbian president said.

He emphasized that he personally wrote every letter of the op-ed in Montenegro’s Borba.

“Serbia did not seek the dissolution of the FR Yugoslavia. We had irresponsible politicians here. In 2003, the dissolution of the union with Montenegro occurred, followed by the Ahtisaari plan and then Montenegro’s recognition of Kosovo. They did not care about the constitutional and legal status of our country. We wanted to live in a union with Montenegro,” Vucic said.

As he explained, the issue of legal continuity and legal succession in relation to the FR Yugoslavia concerned Serbia, and they wanted Serbia to no longer have the right to invoke Resolution 1244, because Resolution 1244 does not mention Serbia, but it does mention the FR Yugoslavia.

“They used a false, wrong, and inaccurate legal argument that Serbia was not mentioned there, only the FR Yugoslavia. So since Montenegro separated, there was no more FR Yugoslavia nor the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, therefore there was no more Resolution 1244 and Kosovo could formally and legally secede. And all of that was a real international conspiracy conducted against this country. Did I say anything ugly when I told them: ‘We loved you more, we congratulate you on everything, just do not force us to participate in your celebrations.’ Leaving aside the fact that Belgrade, which they hate so much, has taken in so many people from Montenegro. I will never go against those people. I believe we should always be together,” Vucic emphasized.

Visits to Azerbaijan and China

The Serbian President announced that he will travel to Azerbaijan tomorrow and that in the coming days and weeks he will have intensive foreign policy activities.

He also announced a visit to China, where he will hold very important talks with President Xi Jinping and said he expects a lot from that meeting.

He also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China on May 19 and 20.

“A few days after that, we are going to China for talks with President Xi, therefore after the visits of President Trump and President Putin, we will have the exceptional honor of going on an official state visit to the People’s Republic of China. We expect a lot from that,” Vucic said.