KFOR:Bentler and Miletic discuss boosting of cooperation

PRISTINA, June 3 (Tanjug) - Kosovo Force (KFOR) Commander Lt Gen Markus Bentler and Serbian Army (VS) Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Miloje Miletic discussed on Thursday in Pristina the strengthening of cooperation and level of security along the administrative line between Kosovo and Serbia.

The talks focused on issues of joint interest, such as fight against smuggling, security on the border line and problems of illegal crossing of the administrative line, KFOR said in a statement.

The meeting was held in KFOR's Headquarters in Pristina under the Joint Implementation Commission (JIC), which is based on the 1999 Military Technical Agreement between KFOR and the Serbian Army signed in Kumanovo.

The meetings between JIC and Albania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYRM) and Montenegro are regularly held as well, the statement reads

High-level meetings of this kind strengthen the relations and cooperation between KFOR and the Serbian Army to the benefit of all people living in the region. The talks contribute to the preservation of region's peace and stability, it was said in the statement, adding that KFOR regularly informs Kosovo institutions on this process.

Russia: No compromise on Kosovo means no safety

MOSCOW, June 3 (Tanjug) - The recent ethnically motivated unrest in Kosovska Mitrovica, a town in northern Kosovo, prove that there can be no safety and stability in Kosovo without an acceptable compromise of the two sides involved, the official Moscow released in a statement on Thursday.

The unrest took place on May 31, when ethnic Albanian extremists tried to rehold Serbian local elections in northern Kosovo.

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko stressed that the unrest on ethnic ground was a consequence of irresponsible radical decisions by Pristina, which are unfortunately being abused actively in Kosovo with the permissiveness of international factors.

According to the transcript released on the occasion, Nesterenko said that after Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in 2008, the social and political situation in the Serbian southern province, including the electoral process itself, is undergoing changes which ignore the interests of the Serbs living in Kosovo, who still see themselves as being part of Serbia.

Russia will lobby for Belgrade-Pristina talks

BELGRADE, June 3 (Tanjug) - Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry European Department Alexander Alexeyev has stated that his country will lobby for talks between Belgrade and Pristina on Kosovo and Metohija's status.

In a statement published by Politika today, Alexeyev said that Moscow is “absolutely in favor of negotiations on the status of Kosovo.”

This means that we may discuss the issue with our colleagues, who are in charge of South East Europe abroad, said the former ambassador of Russia to Serbia.

When asked whether he refers to the colleagues within the EU, Alexeyev said: “Not only them, because Kosovo is not only a European issue.”

“Kosovo is an international issue. The United Nations Security Council is the number one organization in charge of resolving the Kosovo issue.”

When asked whether he is lobbying on the status in coordination with the Serbian side, he replied: “Certainly, our relations with Serbia are great and we have to work together on all issues that Belgrade and Moscow share the same interest in. I am confident that the Kosovo issue is the number one.”

“The unilateral declaration of independence jeopardizes the minority rights. The rights of the Serbs in Kosovo are an enormous problem,” said Alexeyev.

“Technical talks are definitely not enough, because the issue of Kosovo is not a technical but political issue,” underscored Alexeyev.

Miletic meets with Bentler in Pristina today

BELGRADE, June 3 (Tanjug) - Serbian Army Chief of General Staff Col.Gen. Miloje Miletic will discuss with KFOR Commander Gen. Markus Bentler in Pristina today the security situation along the administrative line and in Kosovo and Metohija, the Serbian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Miletic and Bentler are scheduled to discuss the cooperation between the Serbian Army and KFOR, as well as the security situation along the administrative line and in Kosovo and Metohija, it was said in the statement.

General Miletic and Bentler met in the Jug base, near Bujanovac, on April 15, when they discussed the security situation in Kosovo and Metohija and in the administrative line region with Kosovo and Metohija.

That was the first meeting in two years at the top level by members of the Serbian Army and KFOR, because the relations between them were reduced to a lower level in June 2008.

NATO Council of Ministers previously decided to support the setting up of the Kosovo Security Forces, while the then Chief of General Staff Gen Zdravko Ponos decided to suspend meetings with KFOR at the top level.

Kacin: Regional cooperation prerequisite for integrations

SARAJEVO, June 3 (Tanjug) - Development of cooperation is one of the basic prerequisites for the success of European integrations, Jelko Kacin, Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo, stated on Wednesday, expressing his hope that concrete and positive progress would soon take place in this area.

The first presence of the Serbian and Kosovo foreign ministers at the same table is a fact and an important step which has to be followed by progress in the relations between Belgrade and Pristina in regards to the situation in the north of Kosovo, as well as in the area of cooperation in the fight against organized crime and corruption, Kacin said in a statement issued after the EU-Western Balkans ministerial conference.

Kacin recalled that the dynamics of moving closer to the European Union mainly depends on the pace of the implementation of reforms and the adopted laws.

The introduction of a full rule of law and the fight against organized crime and corruption are of key importance for the establishment of functional democracies and meeting the Copenhagen criteria, Kacin said in the statement.

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