Ukraine is at crossroads - OSCE chairperson

Ukraine is at crossroads - OSCE chairperson

To do this, he explained, it is necessary to, above all, secure a ceasefire and a withdrawal of heavy weapons.

"I think we're on the right track to, afterwards, create the preconditions for the meeting to take place. This is an important time when we are on thin ice between the conflict resuming and moving towards the peace option. I am convinced that it is in the interest of all sides for a ceasefire to take place," said Dacic.

He added that he on Friday had a meeting with diplomatic representatives of the countries of the Western Balkans, and that they supported the Serbian chairmanship.

He added that he asked for support for Goran Svilanovicto be reelected as secretary-general of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC).

Dacic said that it is very important that the Western Balkans remains a priority of the OSCE activities, and added that his personal envoy Gerard Studman will have "concrete initiatives."

He also announced that the panel of eminent personalities, that should deal with issues related to European security and analyze the OSCE and its mechanisms, will have its first meeting of February 8 within the framework of the Munich security conference.

A meeting of the OSCE Troika will be held a day earlier.

Dacic said that he also spoke with independent OSCE institutions - the commissioner for national minorities, the representative on freedom of the media, as well as the ODIHR, with whom he discussed cooperation and plans for this year.

In this regard, a conference dedicated to the safety of journalists will be held in Belgrade.

When it comes to Kosovo, Dacic said that Pristina's membership in the OSCE is not a topic, and that a request has not been formally submitted - nor does he believe that it will be, "at least not during the Serbian presidency."

According to him, there are some countries carrying out orders of their ministries - Albania being one of them - who are mentioning Kosovo's membership in international organizations during meetings.

Dacic stressed that it was pointless to talk about Kosovo's membership because its status has not been resolved, and that this was "discussed in Brussels, not in Vienna."

At the same time, Dacic said he did not object to representatives from Kosovo participating in the work of expert teams or attending various regional initiatives.

"This is about the status issue and we believe that it is essential, and therefore we cannot accept Kosovo's membership in the OSCE," concluded Dacic