Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday accused the West of hypocrisy, saying its recognition of Kosovo’s independence was based on the same justification as Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to AFP.
Aleksandar Vucic with Vladimir PutinPhoto: Mikhail Klimentyev / Sputnik / Profimedia
Addressing the UN General Assembly, he said Western countries invoked the principles of sovereignty and human rights to approve Kosovo’s status as an independent nation.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nearly a decade after NATO helped drive Serbian forces from the former province in a bloody war that left an estimated 13,000 dead, mostly ethnic Albanians.
The United States and most European countries have recognized Kosovo.
“They didn’t laugh when the Russian president used the same words to justify his attack on Ukraine,” Vucic said. “They forgot that they themselves used the same rhetoric, the same words and the same explanations.”
“The worst thing is that all those who committed an aggression against the Republic of Serbia are now giving lessons about the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” he added, stressing that “principles do not change from one circumstance to another.”
Belgrade and its main allies, China and Russia, as well as five other European states, including Romania, have refused to recognize the independence of Kosovo, whose population is predominantly Albanian but which includes areas with a Serbian majority in the north.
Tensions remain high after months of riots in these Serb-majority areas. At the end of May, more than 30 soldiers of NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) were injured.
