Serbia Will Use All Peaceful Means to Keep Kosovo

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic insisted independence would be a violation of Serbian as well as international laws.

Serbia will use all peaceful means to protect the country's territorial integrity if the province of Kosovo declares independence, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said Friday.
"We will use all the diplomatic, political, economic and legal means to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country," Jeremic said during a visit to Bratislava. He was speaking at a joint press conference with his Slovak counterpart Jan Kubis.

Serbia's government had adopted a "secret plan" for use if the mainly ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo, declared independence, he said. But he refused to give any details of what it entailed.
Hashim Thaci, prime minister of Kosovo, which has been under United Nations control since 1999, has warned that they could proclaim independence within days of Serbia's presidential election on Sunday.

But Jeremic insisted independence would be a violation of Serbian as well as international laws.
"The vast majority of Serbian citizens in our southern province of Kosovo will choose not to associate themselves with such a decision," he added.
Only a compromise solution would help maintain stability and peace in the West Balkans, he added. "Serbia is prepared to continue to lead a diplomatic dialogue to find such a solution."

Kubis said that Slovakia would be among a handful of EU unwilling to recognise the new state.
"In case of Kosovo's declaration of independence, Slovakia will not be prepared to recognise this independence and Kosovo," he said.
Slovakia fears that an independent Kosovo could be a precedent for its own large Hungarian minority.