Latest country to revoke recognition of Kosovo revealed

Latest country to revoke recognition of Kosovo revealed

Ethnic Albanians in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo (officially: Kosovo and Metohija, KiM) unilaterally declared independence ten years ago, in 2008 - a declaration that Serbia continues to regard as a violation of its Constitution and territorial integrity. Kosovo has in the meantime not managed to join the UN - while five EU member-states also refuse to recognize it as independent.

Dacic - who also serves as first deputy prime minister in the Serbian government - used a news conference called to mark one year in office of the current government to say that the six countries that recognized Kosovo, and then withdrew their recognition, have a combined territory of 800,000 square kilometers - "ten times bigger than Serbia" - and 25 million inhabitants.

"Very often these countries are treated with disrespect, we say they are small and irrelevant. How come they were relevant when they recognized Kosovo - but now that they're revoking that recognition, they are not important... this is a great success for our state," Dacic - who last week announced the sixth withdrawal, without naming the country in question - said on Thursday.

He also stressed that Serbia would "continue with this work" regardless of the amount of pressure it faces.

"We are not fighting Pristina (Kosovo). You know who we are fighting - their mentors and protectors, who, as soon as we receive these notes (rescinding recognition)... I now expect them to travel to Papua to see if they really revoked it. That is why we, on Monday, are sending (Serbian) Agriculture Minister Branislav Nedimovic to Liberia (the previous country that revoked its recognition) - it's because we must fight everywhere," Dacic said.

"(Kosovo Foreign Minister) Pacolli posts various tweets," Dacic continued, "they refute, they lie. We have (diplomatic) notes from six states revoking their recognition of Kosovo as an independent state, saying they will respect the results, the negotiations, and agreements reached in the Brussels dialogue. I think this is a great contribution, by these six countries - five have done it during the one year in office of this (Serbian) government."