LOCAL PRESS

Lavrov, Dacic: Serbia’s EU membership doesn’t threaten relations with Russia (RTS/Tanjug/Beta)

Following the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic underlined at a joint news conference that Serbia wants to be an EU member state, which is its national and state interests, adding that Serbia does not want to be against Russia and it never will be. Dacic said that Serbia’s EU membership will in no way weaken or suspend relations with Russia. “I did not realize that we were to choose between Russia and the EU. We want both the EU and to continue good relations with Russia. Why would Serbia be the only one to choose between the two?” Dacic said. He thanked Russia and especially Minister Lavrov on years of Moscow’s continuous monitoring and involvement in Serbia’s problems regarding Kosovo and Metohija. “If it were not for the support of Russia and some other countries, and especially Russia and China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Serbia would today be fighting a losing battle when it comes to Kosovo and Metohija,” he said. Dacic said that Serbia will make the greatest possible efforts, as the future OSCE chair, to solve the Ukrainian crisis through a dialogue, adding that this will be a big challenge for Serbia next year. He expressed great satisfaction with the visit of his Russian counterpart, stressing that concerning the level of political relations between the two countries, it would be very important to organize more often and regular mutual visits. “The level of political relations is such that this has been an unacceptably long period without of our meetings. This was the reason for the visit, there is no other. The level of political relations is perhaps the best in the last few decades and we want more mutual visits maybe at an even higher level. All economic projects that have been launched will be continued. It is our state and national interest to finish the construction of the South Stream pipeline, to make NIS the best company in the region, to successfully finish the program of renovation of our rail lines, and a number of other new investment program,” said Dacic. Russian Federation is one of Serbia’s most important trade partners, aside from Germany and Italy, Dacic said. He thanked Russia on great humanitarian and rescue aid during recent floods, and its investments in the development of a humanitarian center in Nis. After the end of talks, the ministers signed a plan of consultations between the two Ministries for the period 2015-2016.

Office for Kosovo and Metohija: Kosovo Privatization Agency breaks into Junior Hotel in Strpce (Tanjug)

The Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija has announced that officials of the so-called Kosovo Privatization Agency have broken into the Junior hotel in Strpce, deployed their security officers there and took over the hotel administration. The Agency has decided to close down the hotel with a view to selling it at a later date. Since 2001, the hotel has been used as a collective center providing shelter for Serb families expelled from other parts of Kosovo and Metohija in 1999 and the owner of the hotel is the Serbian Republic Fund for Pension and Disability Insurance. The hotel has been providing shelter for 85 displaced Serbs from Urosevac and Prizren, who are now being threatened with a humanitarian catastrophe, the announcement warns. A contract was signed in 2001, whereby the care about shelter and meals of people in the hotel is transferred to the Commissioner for Refugees and Migrations. The Office for Kosovo and Metohija addressed on that occasion, on 13 May 2014, the international missions in Kosovo, UNMIK, EULEX, OSCE, the EU Office in Pristina and the U.S., British, German, French and Italian embassies, with the request to undertake measures in preventing activities of the Kosovo Privatization Agency. “The Commissioner for Refugees and the hotel administration addressed the UNHCR having in mind that the mentioned agency is in charge of the internally displaced people. Unofficial information received was that the Agency, at the intervention of the UNCHR, was ready to postpone the overtaking of the hotel for two months, but this obviously didn’t occur,” states the Office. The Agency has also taken control of the agricultural cooperative „Strpce“, which houses the premises of the Strpce Municipality. The Agency took control on 9 June over the Lola factory in Strpce and threw out the factory management and 150 employees by informing them that “from now on they can consider themselves to be unemployed”. The statement reads that Pristina is also conducting expropriation of the private land in Strpce, allegedly towards regulating the “Sara” spatial unit for the sake of developing tourism. There is only one Albanian name, while all others are Serbs, among the owners of the land that is being expropriated. “A particularly startling fact is that the Kosovo Privatization Agency is smoothly conducting its procedures even though there are numerous investigative activities in Pristina on discovering abuses perpetrated by this Agency’s officials, including members of the Main Board of the Kosovo Privatization Agency,” reads the statement of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Borhart: Strong institutions and impartial rule of law (Radio Serbia, by Snezana Milosevic)

The EULEX mission has been active in Kosovo and Metohija for almost five and a half years and was engaged in the most complex criminal cases, EULEX Head Bernd Borhart tells Radio Serbia. He adds that EULEX is not a political mission, but a mission of the rule of the law and he guarantees that the mission is totally impartial. Borhart admits that many crimes committed against Kosovo Serbs have not been investigated, such as the mining of a bus full of passengers in the Livadice village near Podujevo in 2001, when 12 people were killed and 43 wounded, then the murder of Serb children in Gorazdevac, the massacre of 14 Serb reapers in Staro Gracko near Lipljan. EULEX knows well about those cases and one of them is under active investigation, he says. As for the other two, also old cases, we need information, so I appeal to people who have them to contact us, for if there is no evidence and witness statements, the police and prosecutors are powerless, says Borhart. He underlines, however, that any cases referring to war crimes, crimes against humanity are, in general, exempt from any time limits and can always be investigated. EULEX judges, prosecutors, police and investigators have an executive function and authorizations to investigate, conduct criminal persecutions and trials, especially in the most difficult cases, such as large scale corruption, war crimes and organized crimes, he says. He adds that EULEX has been involved in some 2,500 criminal cases and that 372 sentences have been pronounced so far on the basis of such procedures. EULEX judges have also been involved in property cases and many results have been achieved in that field. Of the nearly 42,000 cases, in 40,000 sentences have been pronounced and several hundred ones are in the appeal procedure and we hope those cases will be completed in the next two years, he says. Strong institutions and impartial rule of the law, in which no one is above the law, is something that must be guaranteed. That is a prerequisite for economic development and something for which we have been striving all these years in this region, says Borhart.

Seselj doesn’t accept conditions for temporary release (RTS/Tanjug)

The leader of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Vojslav Seselj has informed the ICTY Trial Chamber that, if there is a decision on his temporary release, he doesn’t accept any limitations except the one that he will not leave the territory of Serbia. Seselj has written in the submission to the ICTY, which was sent to the media by the SRS, that in case he is temporarily released, he will not report to the police, nor will he wear an electronic bracelet or other objects that violate human dignity. He also says that he will take part in Serbia’s political life, in public gatherings, that he will give interviews to newspapers, appear as a guest on TV broadcasts and “publicly criticize the ICTY as an illegal international court.” Seselj also notes that he rejects any kind of guarantees of the government in Belgrade. He protested in the submission over the non-holding of status conferences in his case after the presentation of the final word even though article 65 bis of the Rules on Procedure and Evidence envisage that, regardless of the phase of the procedure, status conferences must be held within a deadline not longer than 120 days since the last status conference. He recalls that the rules underline that status conferences are a place where the indicted may launch issues in regard to the case, including the health condition and conditions of detention, and these rights, he points out, have been denied to him. Seselj also protests over the non-passing of the decision on release from custody, even the non-examination of this issue at intervals required by the customary international law, since the obligation of the trial chamber was to re-examine at certain intervals the decision on detention and to pass a decision, immediately upon the cessation of the reason for detention, on its abolishment. The ICTY Trial Chamber issued on 13 June an order whereby the sides in the procedure are invited to bring forward an opinion on the possibility for the indicted Seselj to be temporarily released.

REGIONAL PRESS

Bevanda: Donors’ conference to be organized at the beginning of July (Fena)

“I hope that the donors’ conference aimed to help B&H in reconstruction of the damage caused by floods will be organized in the first ten days of July in Brussels”, the Chairman of the B&H Council of Ministers Vjekoslav Bevanda said after a meeting with Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek. The focus of the meeting was the catastrophic floods and damage caused in B&H. Bevanda added that the presentation of the damage assessment made by the European Commission, the United Nations and the World Bank will be organized on Wednesday. In addition, Bevanda thanked the initiative of Slovenia which was sent to the EU, all in order for members of the EU to pay attention to B&H. Bratusek emphasized that they will take all measures for the benefit of B&H, adding that Slovenia is a sincere friend of B&H. She pointed out that Slovenia is engaged in organizing a donors’ conference for Serbia and B&H. On the other side, Croatia said that they need the international assistance at this time. “Currently, Slovenia, France and the European Commission took participation on the Donors’ conference, but I hope more states will join us”, concluded Bratusek.

Lavrov: All agreements on “South Stream” confirmed at meeting with Dacic (Srna)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that, at the meeting with Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, all agreements on the “South Stream” gas pipeline had been confirmed and consent reached on the necessity of the realization of this project. “There are no changes in the plan of the construction of the “South Stream”. I don’t bear any suspicion that the stoppage is temporary, because this is the most important project at present when it comes to gas supply to South-East Europe,” said Lavrov at a joint press conference with Dacic at the Palace of Serbia. Lavrov said he exchanged information on the situation in B&H, in the context of elections in October, and that they also examined joint marking of Russia and Serbia of the centennial since the beginning of World War I and 70 years of victory in World War II. Dacic said that economic projects of Serbia and Russia will continue, saying that Belgrade was not giving up from the “South Stream”.

Kosarac: Link between Bosniak political elite and NGOs in attacks on the RS (Srna)

The Deputy Chairman of the B&H House of Peoples Stasa Kosarac says that the Bosniak political elite is using the B&H budget funds to help certain NGOs promote pro-Bosniak policies and work to destroy the Republika Srpska (RS). “We in the RS have noticed it and warned that no NGO from Sarajevo does anything without the support of the Bosniak political elite,” Kosarac told Srna. According to him, the fact is that the Deputy Chairmen of the B&H Council of Ministers have discretionary powers to spend money from the budget reserves. “We do not have an opportunity to control this, but we do have the right and obligation to point out the problems in the functioning of B&H institutions, namely, the fact that the Bosniak political elite is financing NGOs that are working at weakening the RS with budget funds” Kosarac said. 
The fact that the four NGOs that stand behind the insulting messages sent to the addresses of a number of RS officials and institutions on the eve of the celebration of the RS Day, 9 January, have in the past few years received KM 37,000 is confirmation for him of the existence of a pro-Bosniak policy in B&H institutions. “It is important that we see this, and that we are in a process of bringing certain laws against any centralization at the B&H level and the victorious spirit of Bosniak politics,” Kosarac said. The current Deputy Chairman of the B&H Council of Ministers Zlatko Lagumdzija, and his predecessor Sadik Ahmetovic, stand behind the decision to allocate funds from the budget reserves to the NGOs which sent the insulting messages to Republika Srpska institutions and officials.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Russia appreciates Serbia's position of uniting Europe: Lavrov (Xinhua, 17 June 2014)
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that Russia highly appreciates Serbia's position aimed to unite Europe instead of dividing it.
Lavrov, who arrived in Belgrade for a two-day visit to Serbia, made the remarks at the Nikola Tesla airport.
Russia wishes that there were no dividing lines in Europe and that all countries of the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union shared a common economic and humanitarian space, Lavrov said.
Asked about the situation in Ukraine, he said that the leadership of Ukraine must stop violence and deal with the gas issue and that "all cards are on that part of the table."
Lavrov was received at the airport by his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic, as well as the Russian ambassador to Serbia Alexander Chepurin.
During his two days here, Lavrov will hold separate meetings with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic.
"Russian Federation and Serbia have signed a contract on strategic partnership (May 24, 2013) and we wish to develop our relations further in the spirit of friendship," said Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic in a brief statement to journalists at the airport.
After the landing, Lavrov and Serbian Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy Aleksandar Vulin laid wreaths at the monument dedicated to the Soviet soldiers at the Cemetery of the Liberators of Belgrade in the Second World War.
Russia: new pipeline will go ahead despite setback (AP, 17 June 2014)
BELGRADE, Serbia - Russia's foreign minister insists the EU's order to halt construction work on the South Stream pipeline in Bulgaria is only a brief delay in the project planned to bypass Ukraine as a transit country and consolidate Russia's energy grip in Europe.
Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday "there are absolutely no changes in plans, I have absolutely no doubt that this halt is only temporary."
The South Stream pipeline, in which Russian state gas company Gazprom holds a 50-percent stake, would provide an alternative supply route for Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria and Italy from 2018.
Bulgaria froze work upon orders of the European Commission, which said Bulgaria hadn't respected rules on awarding public contracts. The Commission has also delayed some political talks on the pipeline amid the Ukrainian crisis.
As NATO Membership Gets Closer, Montenegro Feels The Heat From Russia (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, by Srdjan Jankovic and Robert Coalson, 12 June 2014)
PODGORICA -- Apparently Moscow's red line against NATO membership extends well beyond Moscow's old empire.
Concern about further expansion of the trans-Atlantic alliance has driven Moscow's harsh policies in its immediate neighborhood -- with Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia in particular feeling Russia's wrath. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calls the prospect of such expansion "the last straw."
And now Moscow is seeking to extend the no-NATO zone farther west, beyond the former Soviet space -- and even beyond the old Warsaw Pact. The next country in Moscow's sights seems to be the tiny Balkan state of Montenegro.
Podgorica has been pushing to join the Western alliance almost since it became independent of Serbia in 2006. It was given a NATO Membership Action Plan in 2009, and Prime Minister Milo Dukanovic continues to hope a membership invitation will be on the table at the NATO summit in Wales in September.
But as Montenegro approaches the red line, signs of Moscow's discontent have been unmistakable, says analyst Milan Nic, director of the Central European Policy Institute in Bratislava. "Russian foreign policy has been much more assertive in the western Balkans in the last half a year, specifically trying to prevent NATO enlargement," Nic says, adding that the Kremlin is "focusing on Montenegro in particular."
Russia Applies Leverage
The pressure has been building gradually.
Moscow has said repeatedly in various contexts that Podgorica's NATO course runs counter to hundreds of years of "fraternal relations" between the two Slavic, Orthodox Christian nations.
In January, Moscow State University's Institute of Experimental Economics and Finance (the institute was founded by Aleksei Ulyukayev, currently Russian economic development minister) issued a report titled "Montenegro: The Price of Eurointegration." Although the report wasn't released publicly, it was widely reported in the Russian press.
According to the media accounts, the report estimated Montenegro's European-integration policies will cost the country $1.5 billion over the next 10 years. The report suggests that Montenegrin politicians, in order to persuade the European Union that they are combating organized crime and corruption, will begin "pushing Russian firms out of the country and taking away their property."
There are an estimated 7,000 Russian nationals who are permanent residents in Montenegro and Russians own about 40 percent of the country's desirable Adriatic Sea coast.
Analyst Nic says the process of preparing for NATO membership has meant "more light and more questioning of Montenegro's relations with Russia" and of high-level corruption that "can make [Montenegro] vulnerable to Russian pressure."
Moscow's 'Countermeasures'
In April, the official Russian government daily, "Rossiiskaya gazeta" published an article headlined "The Unfriendly Face of Montenegro" that cited the Moscow State University report and attacked Podgorica's European-integration course. The article quoted unnamed "diplomatic sources" as saying that "getting rid of the 'unnecessary' Russian presence" in Montenegro was a "fundamental demand" of Podgorica's perspective NATO partners.
As evidence that this process is under way, the article cited a long-running dispute between the Montenegrin government and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska over the ailing Podgorica Aluminum Plant (KAP). The plant was this week taken over by local businessman Veselin Pejovic amid charges that Deripaska's management team ran the foundry into the ground and racked up more than $470 million of debt.
The "Rossiiskaya gazeta" piece concluded with a list of "countermeasures" that it claimed were being "seriously discussed" in the Kremlin, including the tried-and-true tactic of "regulating" Montenegrin wine exports to Russia to attacking the country's Russia-dependent tourism industry by introducing a visa regime.
In April, when Podgorica announced it would join in EU sanctions against Russia over the annexation of Crimea, Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Montenegro of "forgetting" the support Russia had given during the 1999 NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia.
In May, the Montenegrin website IN4S.net quoted Russian Duma Deputy Mikhail Degtyarev, of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, as saying Montenegro would be "a legitimate target of Russian missiles" if it joined NATO.
In Montenegro's Best Interests?
These themes have also been echoed within Montenegro itself. The Balkans B92 news agency said local analysts were comparing Moscow's messages "to the days of the Cominform, when the former Soviet Union openly threatened Yugoslavia…with military intervention."
Analyst Jelena Milic, of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies in Podgorica, says the anti-NATO campaign in Montenegro is being conducted by "the so-called Putin orchestra," which she told RFE/RL's Balkan Service "comprises opposition parties that strongly oppose NATO membership for Montenegro, the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral, and certain nongovernmental organizations and media."
Goran Danilovic, head of Montenegro's right-wing New Serbian Democracy party, which advocates ties with Belgrade, says the government "is using the crisis in Eastern Europe" to push a policy that "opposes the will of the citizens of Montenegro."
Srdjan Milic, head of the opposition Socialist People's Party, which supports EU integration, accuses Prime Minister Dukanovic of changing his foreign-policy priorities, which he says were formerly aimed at seeking a balance between Russia and the West.
Dukanovic's government claims 46 percent of Montenegrins support their country's NATO membership, but opposition parties believe that figure is much lower and are calling for a referendum. Parties supporting NATO membership hold about two-thirds of the seats in parliament.
It isn't clear what NATO leaders will offer Montenegro when they meet in Wales in September -- it could be anything from a diplomatic demurral to a concrete offer to become the alliance's 29th member. Either outcome will send a message to Moscow.
"I think that what we can do is to speak a language that is understood in the Kremlin," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Brussels in March when asked about the impact on NATO of the crisis in Ukraine. "That means determination, that means Western unity, and it means giving a realistic Euro-Atlantic perspective to countries that so wish."
Boycott of Macedonian Parliament Starts to Fray (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 17 June 2014)
As parliament readies to verify the resignations of opposition MPs, some legislators are making it clear they wish to return to their seats
At least two opposition MPs in Macedonia say they may return to parliament, defying the opposition’s decision to collectively resign following the April elections, which they deem fraudulent.
Solza Grceva, from the main opposition Socal Democratic Party, SDSM, has until Thursday - when parliament will verify the resignations of the opposition MPs - to decide whether to return.
“I still don’t know whether I will remain behind the policy of the boycott,” Grceva said on Monday, refraining from commenting further.
On social networks she has said she does not agree with the opposition decision in late May to quit parliament in protest.
“I will stay vocal in stating that this boycott ... is unacceptable for me. I think we should wage our battle to topple this government in a different way,” Grceva wrote on Facebook.
Another recently elected SDSM parliamentarian, Ljubica Buralieva, has also used Facebook to criticise the decision to quit parliament.
“This form of boycott of the institutions is unacceptable to me,” Buralieva said, adding that this was purely her personal standpoint.
If they decide to return to parliament, Grceva will follow in the steps of Roza Topuzovska-Karovska, from the smaller opposition Liberal Democratic Party, LDP.
In late May, she was the only opposition MP who defied her party and did not tender her resignation to parliament.
In May, all 33 opposition MPs - bar Karovska - submitted written resignations to the 123-seat parliament after alleging fraud in the April general and presidential elections.
The opposition insisted that Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's ruling VMRO DPMNE party won both elections by fraud and demanded the formation of a caretaker government to prepare new elections.
Topuzovska’s party called her decision “political suicide”. But LDP leader Andrej Zernovski dismissed calls for her exclusion from the party, admitting he was disappointed by her.
“It is true that the battle should be waged within institutions, but only when they function in a democratic ambient," he said. "The opposition must not be a mere decoration and an alibi to this regime.”
It remains unclear whether other opposition MPs are mulling the option to return.
Even if no opposition MP defies the official stand, the opposition’s resolution on this issue faces another challenge in the next few months.
After verifying the MPs' resignations, the state electoral commission is to spend several months asking other opposition MP candidates who were included in the party lists in April, but who were not elected, whether they wish to replace their departed colleagues.
The official viewpoint of the opposition is that none of their candidates wishes to enter parliament and that they have all signed statements to confirm this.
The resignations of the opposition MPs will not greatly affect the work of the new parliament, as 89 of the 123 seats remain filled, which is more than two-thirds.
Gruevski, who has held power since 2006 and whose new government is set to be approved by parliament on Thursday, has caled for additional elections to fill the emptied seats.