NATO receiving "bad vibes" from Serbia

NATO says that the complicated and tense situation in Serbia is affecting their mutual relations. A high-ranking NATO official told the Beta news agency that NATO viewed UN Security Council Resolution 1244 as the basis for KFOR remaining in Kosovo, should the Kosovo Albanians proclaim independence. NATO receiving "bad vibes" from Serbia The NATO official said that the organization “had been receiving unfriendly messages from Belgrade over the last few months.” He pointed to the fact that Serbia, together with Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, had been accepted into the Partnership for Peace program in the last year, with Belgrade promising that it would meet all its obligations to the Hague Tribunal. “But Hague indictees Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are still at large. NATO expected the elements of cooperation within the Partnership for Peace to be strengthened between Serbia and the Alliance, but that has not been the case,” the NATO official said. “What we’re talking about here is, of course, the Security Agreement (for the exchange of secure documents), but that has not happened,” he said. The NATO official stated that cooperation between the Serbian military and KFOR was “very good on the field and did not fit in with the messages coming from Belgrade.” “Essentially, relations between Belgrade and NATO are in the hands of the Belgrade administration and that administration has to decide to accelerate cooperation,” he said. Asked whether NATO, with Resolution 1244 as the basis for remaining in Kosovo, “is prepared to implement the resolution when Serbia’s sovereignty over Kosovo is in question,” he replied that “NATO sees this resolution as the legal basis for remaining in Kosovo and expects NATO foreign ministers to confirm it as such.” Asked how KFOR would react to a potential proclamation of independence and the subsequent violation of Resolution 1244, he said that “NATO will, in the case of a unilateral proclamation of Kosovo independence, view the resolution as a basis for remaining in the province.” He said that this would be the main topic at the NATO-EU ministerial meeting scheduled for Thursday.

NATO receiving "bad vibes" from Serbia

The NATO official said that the organization “had been receiving unfriendly messages from Belgrade over the last few months.”

He pointed to the fact that Serbia, together with Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, had been accepted into the Partnership for Peace program in the last year, with Belgrade promising that it would meet all its obligations to the Hague Tribunal.

“But Hague indictees Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić are still at large. NATO expected the elements of cooperation within the Partnership for Peace to be strengthened between Serbia and the Alliance, but that has not been the case,” the NATO official said.

“What we’re talking about here is, of course, the Security Agreement (for the exchange of secure documents), but that has not happened,” he said.

The NATO official stated that cooperation between the Serbian military and KFOR was “very good on the field and did not fit in with the messages coming from Belgrade.”

“Essentially, relations between Belgrade and NATO are in the hands of the Belgrade administration and that administration has to decide to accelerate cooperation,” he said.

Asked whether NATO, with Resolution 1244 as the basis for remaining in Kosovo, “is prepared to implement the resolution when Serbia’s sovereignty over Kosovo is in question,” he replied that “NATO sees this resolution as the legal basis for remaining in Kosovo and expects NATO foreign ministers to confirm it as such.”

Asked how KFOR would react to a potential proclamation of independence and the subsequent violation of Resolution 1244, he said that “NATO will, in the case of a unilateral proclamation of Kosovo independence, view the resolution as a basis for remaining in the province.”

He said that this would be the main topic at the NATO-EU ministerial meeting scheduled for Thursday.