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Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's opening remarks during a meeting with Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vulin, Moscow, August 22, 2022

22 August 2022 18:12
1702-22-08-2022

Mr Minister,

My dear Aleksandar,

Friends,

We are glad to welcome you in Moscow at our regular meeting.

Despite a difficult international situation, our dialogue is progressing at all levels. President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic talk over the phone, compare notes, and discuss our future actions. There are also contacts between parties to the Intergovernmental Committee for Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation. The Commission for Military-Technical Collaboration is also functioning.

Regrettably, my June visit to Belgrade failed to materialise. Those who have scuttled this visit at the bidding of their "higher-ups" should know that their nasty tricks will not shake Russia-Serbia relations, which are based on the foundation of firm friendship between our people, and have deep historical, spiritual, and civilisational roots.

We will be glad to see Serbia's Foreign Minister in Moscow at any convenient time. Today, we will discuss, along with bilateral relations, the regional agenda, primarily the situation in and around Kosovo. We know about the results of the recent round of EU-mediated talks in Brussels between President Vucic and Mr Albin Kurti. There were no take-aways. On the contrary, a rollback from former agreements is observed and tensions persist in northern Kosovo.

We see this as a result of the US-led West's long-standing policy aimed at undermining all European security principles coordinated within the OSCE. These principles imply equal and indivisible security and make it obligatory for all countries to refrain from strengthening their security at the expense of impinging on the security of others. Russia and Serbia (let me note this in particular) are consistently committed to these principles, which have been approved at the highest level. We will defend precisely these approaches to the further conduct of affairs. The West's policy of tearing down its obligations remains evident to this day, in the Balkans among other areas, and in the situation in Ukraine that the West has provoked.

As for Kosovo, Russia's position remains unchanged. It has been repeatedly reiterated by President Vladimir Putin. We are in favour of Belgrade and Pristina reaching a viable and mutually acceptable solution based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244. There is no doubt that it should first and foremost conform to international law and receive an obligatory approval from the UN Security Council. We will only accept a solution that will suit the Serbs. We will give our Serbian friends all-out support in reaching this result.

I think that your visit is very important in terms of maintaining an intense dialogue at the political level. I am confident that it will help to strengthen and promote our cooperation in all areas, both now and in the future.