Serbia wants to continue on the path of European integration, President Tomislav Nikolic has said.

However, "it would not be good anyone to condition Serbia with the recognition of Kosovo," Beta reported him as noting on Monday in Belgrade.

According to a statement issued by the president's office, "that will never be accepted."

Nikolic's remarks came during a meeting with the new head of the OSCE mission in Serbia, Andrea Orizio. The president said he hoped for a quick normalization of relations between the European Union and the Russian Federation - "as it would be unthinkable for Serbia to give up the strong ties with Russia that it traditionally nurtures."

Speaking about the migrant crisis, Nikolic said that his country "thinks it has not disgraced itself there, and that it behaved more in line with European standards than many members of the European Union."

He also said that cooperation between Serbia and the OSCE was "impeccable."

Andrea Orizio noted that Serbia has shown great maturity during the migrant crisis last year, and praised the activities during its presidency of the OSCE.

Orizio added that the OSCE "believes in Serbia's role in the region and throughout Europe."

"The OSCE will be very useful to Serbia, neutral, but very concrete," he said.