Ukraine "cannot ask Serbia to impose sanctions"
Ukraine cannot ask Serbia to impose sanctions on Russia "due to the fact that it is not a member of the EU," says Ukrainian diplomat Oleksandr Kirichenko.
Thursday, 07.08.2014.
09:57
Ukraine "cannot ask Serbia to impose sanctions"
He pointed out that it was encouraging to hear that Serbia supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, adding that it was also expected, because Ukraine has always supported the integrity of Serbia.Kirichenko claimed that Ukraine will not recognize Kosovo, "despite the neutral stance of Serbia related to the EU position towards Russia."
In 2008, ethnic Albanians unilaterally declared independence of the Serbian province of Kosovo - something that Serbia rejected as illegal under its Constitution. The United States and 23 out of EU's 28 member-states have, however, recognized Kosovo as independent, but Russia, as well as Ukraine, have not.
"The Kosovo precedent is devastating. And regardless of the fact that Serbia might have a neutral attitude towards the EU position, we will never change our stance on Kosovo. It will never happen that Ukraine directly or indirectly recognizes the independence of Kosovo," said the Ukrainian diplomat.
According to him, Ukraine and Serbia "have always been historically close and no one can spoil the friendly relations that the two countries have had for centuries."
"The latest statement by Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dačić is also very important to us - that both Russia and Ukraine are friendly countries to Serbia. It is important that there is no giving of priority to one side. Given that Dačić said Serbia's foreign policy must be harmonized with European standards, we look to the future with encouragement because we believe that the closer Serbia gets to the EU, the more it will have the attitude towards Russia which is now had by a majority of EU countries," said Kirichenko .
Commenting on the fact that President Tomislav Nikolić offered to mediate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, Kirichenko said that they heard this not only from the Serbian president, but also from Dačić.
"The role of Serbia is very important because of its presidency next year over the OSCE. To us such support of Serbia would be very important so that Ukraine can find a real way out of a very serious crisis, on the basis of international law, and preserve the territorial integrity and wholeness," said Kirichenko.
He added that "President Nikolić is expected to officially visit Ukraine by end of the year."
"He is welcome, as is Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić. Especially as we are preparing to sign free trade agreements between Serbia and Ukraine," said the diplomat.
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