US wants us to commit political suicide, says Serbian FM

US wants us to commit political suicide, says Serbian FM

However, Dacic added that Serbia should focus on the US president and vice president, rather than officials of Yee's level.

"I don't know what he's expecting from us, but we certainly will not commit political suicide. He wants us to kill ourselves by angering our friends and allies, those who will tomorrow use the veto (in Serbia's favor) in the UN Security Council - because the United States will certainly not do it," Dacic said, adding that Yee was "asking Serbia to fall out with Russia and China and be left with no one to defend it in the UN Security Council - while the United States would still remain on the side of the Albanians."

The minister also said that the only way for Kosovo to get a chair in the UN will be when there is "nobody in the UN Security Council to veto it."

Asked "what Yee asked for, when it comes to Kosovo," Dacic said that Serbia was "not functioning according to the 'what they are asking for' principle."

"Nine years ago, they were also asking that we recognize Kosovo," Dacic observed, referring to the unilateral declaration of independence made in 2008 by ethnic Albanians in Serbia's southern province.

According to him, Serbia must direct its activities towards Donald Trump as US president and Mike Pence, his vice-president, "rather than towards Hoyt Yee."

"To focus on those who create US policy," said Dacic, adding that "Trump will not easily change the State Department's opinion on the Western Balkans."

Asked whether Trump is knowledgeable about the circumstances in this region, Dacic replied: "He does not know much, he does not know the details, but that should be worked on."

Dacic recalled that during September's UN General Assembly in New York, he showed Trump front pages of Serbian daily newspapers, reporting about his victory in the US presidential election.

"He was intrigued by (a photograph of) a billboard that said, 'Trump, (you) Serb!'," the foreign minister said.

Dacic also criticized the United States and the United Kingdom - with whom, he said, Serbia has been trying to find common ground and reset relations all these years, only to be met with what he "does not consider to be friendly acts" from their side.

He recalled that two years ago Britain submitted a draft resolution that "branded the Serb people as genocidal," without informing Serbia about the move, while Russia then vetoed that resolution at the UN Security Council.

"Ten days ago," Dacic continued, "once again, without informing Serbia, Britain came out with the idea of ​​abolishing regular Security Council sessions on the situation in Kosovo, and turning them into closed consultations. The United States immediately supported that position, and Russia and China were against."

Dacic then said that "it may be simplified - but it is essentially true" to say that those countries that have recognized Kosovo are hostile to Serbia, while those that did not are friendly, and added that he "would like to see what happened to Serbia in Kosovo also happen to those that have recognized Kosovo."

Speaking about "internal dialogue on Kosovo," Dacic said that "the Big Brothers" - i.e., the United States and Britain - "must be convinced that this is a solution for stability, not for some new conflicts."

"It takes time, but this point needs to be launched. One mistake is to think that everything is lost, and another that it's all ours, and that we should not ease up," Dacic said.

The head of Serbian diplomacy also said that, regardless of all the differences, Kosovo and Catalonia are linked by their unilateral acts of secession, and by dialogue and agreement with the state from which the territory was being separated missing in both cases, and reiterated that Serbia does not recognize any unilateral acts.

"Pandora's box has been opened, rules and principles no longer exist, today, you do not depend on international law but on circumstances and your position. We support the territorial integrity of Spain, which is our biggest supporter when it comes to our own territorial integrity," Dacic said .