Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said today that it was decided to withdraw embassy staff from FYROM because the competent authorities provided evidence of very offensive intelligence against the bodies and institutions of Serbia.

Vučić told reporters in Baric, near Belgrade, that there were several reasons for that decision, but that "competent authorities" had established this and presented to him and the Government of Serbia evidence of such action.

- We will continue to develop friendly relations between Belgrade and Skopje. It's ours that our people are prepared and ready to protect the friendship between the Serbs and Macedonians, but also that we know how to act in a different and new environment that we were not aware of until a few months ago, said Vučić.

He did not want to give more details, but he said that "in seven to ten days everything would be as usual".

Earlier Sputnik reported that "Kosovo is reason for withdrawal of Serbian embassy staff", B92 reported on its website.

The FYROM government has drafted a proposal to support Pristina's new bid to join UNESCO, Sputnik reported.

That is "one of the reasons" why the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to withdraw the staff of the country's embassy in Skopje for urgent consultations, the agency said.

B92 reported that in the meantime, no official reason has been given in Belgrade, but that Prime Minister Ana Brnabić described the situation this morning as "no small matter."

Brnabić told reporters that the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs would soon issue a statement.