Serbia threatens retaliation against Ukraine

Serbia has warned it could change its stance on Ukraine's territorial integrity, after Kiev abstained from a vote approving Kosovo's application to join the Council of Europe.

According to RT, the Council of Europe’s ministerial committee held an extraordinary meeting on April 25 to decide the fate of Kosovo’s application. The bid was supported by 33 of the 46 member states, while seven voted against and five abstained, including Ukraine.

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic criticized the European Council's vote to approve Kosovo's application for membership. Photo: Reuters

Speaking after the vote, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said: “I must say that Ukraine has unpleasantly surprised us. This whole story is about territorial integrity… Do you know how much effort Serbia put into voting for all the resolutions, condemning the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity?”

“Foreign policy is based on the principle of reciprocity. This will certainly affect our future stance on the territorial integrity of those countries,” Dacic added, referring to Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Slovakia and Armenia, whose votes “surprised” Belgrade.

Serbia, which has close ties with Russia, has opposed Western sanctions against Moscow over its military operation in Ukraine. However, it has not endorsed the use of force and stressed the need to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Kosovo, a region with an Albanian majority, unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The United States and many of its allies almost immediately recognized Kosovo as a sovereign state. However, Serbia still considers Kosovo a province.

According to VNN

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