PUBLIC STATEMENT

Regarding  the Statement of Serbia’s Defense Minister  

Forum for Security and Democracy looks on the public statement of Serbia’s minister of defense Aleksandar Vulin – in which he urges Montenegro not to send two of its officers to staff KFOR’s Command HQ without first consulting Belgrade – as inappropriate to Belgrade’s proclaimed foreign policy goals and is detrimental to the security interests of the Serbian minority in Kosovo. 

FSD underscores that Montenegro has been called to send its representatives as an independent and sovereign nation as well a member of NATO, the alliance trusted with the command of KFOR – international peace keeping force of the OUN – the founding of which was based on the 1244 Resolution of the UN Security Council and with the Belgrade’s consent!    

FSD also wishes to remind the public that up to this point Belgrade hasn’t asked of any nation who sent armed forces to KFOR to consult with Belgrade beforehand, so it stands that Montenegro shouldn’t be asked to do so either. Montenegro is no longer in a union state with Serbia because of whose former policy in Kosovo it endured negative consequences as well as air strikes of which Serbia’s defense minister needlessly reminded them.    

FSD especially wishes to underline the dubiousness of this statement of Serbia’s minister in the context of tomorrow’s local elections in Montenegro, in which over the course of the past several days opponents of an independent and Euro-Atlantic Montenegro once again rear their heads with appeals for a transnational reconciliation based on Christian orthodoxy which are essentially aimed at undermining the stability of Montenegro.   

FSD, however, expresses its hope that this statement of Serbia’s defense minister won’t upset Serbia’s relations with Montenegro, which have recently from relevant places been mutually characterized as excellent, nor on Serbia’s cooperation with KFOR – whose presence on Kosovo is of key importance to the security of the local Serbian populace as well as Kosovo and the region, a fact which has also been voiced by Serbia not long ago. Last but not least, FSD hopes that this statement of Serbia’s defense minister won’t impact Serbian internal dialogue about Kosovo in an overly negative manner, though the dialogue itself has been subject to increasingly more obvious pressure from groups who oppose to it.

Belgrade, February 3, 2018