Serbian Internal Affairs Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said on Friday that the Kosovo authorities want to use membership in Interpol to reinforce statehood not to improve their crime fighting capabilities.

The minister told Belgrade based TV Pink that a decision to induct Kosovo into Interpol would be political and would jeopardize that international organization’s professionalism.

“If Interpol becomes political all cases will be decided politically. You will no longer ask if a red Interpol warrant has been issued for some criminal, you will ask who issued the warrant,” Stefanovic said.

“We warned at several Interpol meetings that granting Kosovo membership would in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 under which Kosovo is a part of Serbia. Interpol has an obligation to respect UN resolutions,” he said and recalled a 2016 resolution adopted by the Interpol General Assembly under which only UN members or observer states can be members of the international police organization.

“Serbia has invested a lot of effort into explaining the consequences of granting Interpol membership to Kosovo,” the minister said.