"Moscow will stand its ground on Kosovo"

Russian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandr Alekseyev says his country will not change its stand on Kosovo. In an interview for the Thursday issue of Belgrade daily Politika, Alekseyev said that it would be "a very serious mistake if the EU mission arrived in Kosovo without a corresponding decision of the UN Security Council", reminding that the possible replacement of the UN mission with an EU mission "had been envisaged, but only in scope of a general regulation the sole basis of which was Resolution 1244." "Moscow will stand its ground on Kosovo" Asked if Russia was considering the possibility of its military presence in Serbia, as opposed to that of NATO in Kosovo, a subject which SRS deputy leader Tomislav Nikolic raised in public recently, the Russian ambassador replied that it was "a very delicate matter not considered until now". "We have totally different plans that refer, first of all, to our economic presence and political support, which we are working on very seriously," Alekseyev explained. The ambassador also reminded of a recent statement by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Yuri Baluyevsk, who did not rule out the possibility of military assistance to Serbia, but in one case only - if Serbia demanded something like of the kind.

"Moscow will stand its ground on Kosovo"

Asked if Russia was considering the possibility of its military presence in Serbia, as opposed to that of NATO in Kosovo, a subject which SRS deputy leader Tomislav Nikolić raised in public recently, the Russian ambassador replied that it was "a very delicate matter not considered until now".

"We have totally different plans that refer, first of all, to our economic presence and political support, which we are working on very seriously," Alekseyev explained.

The ambassador also reminded of a recent statement by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Yuri Baluyevsk, who did not rule out the possibility of military assistance to Serbia, but in one case only - if Serbia demanded something like of the kind.