Vucic: Kurti planned incursion into Zvecan tomorrow, a small country missing CoE summit will be remembered

Vucic and Lajcak held a meeting this morning in Belgrade at 10 o'clock

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic spoke after a meeting with the European Union's special representative for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and other regional issues in the Western Balkans, Miroslav Lajcak.

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The president said that he is worried because of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, that Miroslav Lajcak is also worried, that (Albin) Kurti was already planning an invasion of Zvecan for tomorrow, because his candidate had allegedly won in this northern Serb municipality, but that they have a deadline until May 28.

The president also said that he will not go to Reykjavik (for a Council of Europe (CoE) summit) and that it will be remembered that a small freedom loving country and its president will not participate in a farce, and so he chose not to travel to Iceland.

The president first said that up until this morning at 9 o'clock, 9,401 pieces of (illegally held) weapons, more than 400,000 pieces of ammunition and almost twice as many explosive devices have been collected...

"It's interesting that this is much more than we collected in the previous four legalization campaigns. We believe that this will be the most successful one, both long-term, and above of all, I would like to thank the citizens of Serbia," said Vucic and added that it is important when you see 10,000 arms turned in:

"During the handing over of weapons, there were also incidents, in terms of bullets being left in the barrel, but there were no consequences. Usually people say that it's not the gun that fires the bullet, but a person's head, but when that head doesn't have that gun, no matter how evil the person is, it can't do harm. As we said, nobody will suffer any consequences for handing over illegal weapons. Then we will proceed with further measures."

We will accept all 7 requests of parents of children from Vladislav Ribnikar school

The president said that yesterday Ana Brnabic had a meeting with the parents whose children attend the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School - where 9 people, 8 of them children, were killed last week in a mass shooting - and that the authorities are either meeting or will met all seven of their demands.

"We are fully ready to fulfill all of their seven demands. Their demands are reasonable and rational. It was necessary to clarify all things and to see how we can help our children in the future," said the president.

According to him, the world's best experts will be hired to work, together with domestic ones, on providing assistance to the children and their parents.

"We expect 56+100. That's 156 psychologists. I must thank the psychologists. 250 of them signed up and want to help everyone who is in need of help. We will hire world experts from Norway, UNICEF, it seems to me that they are the best, let's see how to deal now, after everything, with the post-traumatic syndrome... Listening to the experts, we hired and paid for additional costs for the Institute of Mental Health in Belgrade," stated the president.

He pointed out that everyone feels safer because of the deployment of police officers in schools.

"Our organs conducted surveys that included both the parents and students, everyone is satisfied and everyone feels incomparably safer when police officers are in schools. In the summer, we will get a whole generation of new police officers, all of them will get a job. We have 1,300 who are retiring, we have to employ 2,500. Not so that something like this wouldn't happen again, I don't even know if it would be preventd, but we will prevent 80 percent of peer violence, 95 percent of potential violence against the teaching staff, and when an incident occurs, it will be easier to punish. It seems to me that both children and parents will feel much safer, so they can devote themselves to their duties," said the president.

Serbia will not be in Reykjavik

He said that he is very worried about the situation in Kosovo and Metohija.

"I spoke with Lajcak and I am very, very, very concerned about the situation, especially in the north of Kosovo. Kurti's passionate need to create conflicts and the passion to start a war, a conflict in which he would be a hero... Everything they do is so bad that I have no words. The last thing Kurti did with the expropriation (of Serb-owned land), which is against their own regulations, too - I have no words. I am worried because they are occupying premises by force, and especially because the Quint (US, France, Germany, Italy, UK) is acting naive. Sometimes 3 percent (turnout) is enough for them to consider an election legitimate, and sometimes 50 percent is not," remarked Vucic.

He said that he made the decision in line with an agreement reached with Ana Brnabic and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic that they would not go to Reykjavik for the Council of Europe Summit and that they would not vote for a declaration that will be proposed there.

"I decided not to travel to the summit in Reykjavik, since they are ready to trample on the territorial integrity of Serbia. Our country will be presented in Reykjavik at the lowest level and Serbia will not vote in favor of their declaration on the protection of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia... We will not prevent its adoption, but it will not be passed unanimously," President Vucic said, and stressed:

"I am ready to suffer all their insults because I am ready to protect the UN Charter, I adhered to the principles related to Serbia and the UN Charter. We are ready to support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, but we are not ready to give up our own territorial integrity so easily, as some want to do on our behalf, and long for us to do that," said Vucic.

He recalled that Serbia submitted an amendment to that declaration that sought to insert the provision of respecting the territorial integrity of all CoE member countries - but that at the insistence of Germany, that was rejected in the last 48 hours.

"After the decision by which they make it clear to us that they are ready to trample on the integrity of Serbia and the UN charter, we made our decision. We realized that territorial integrity exists for those countries whose territorial integrity is recognized by them and not by the UN, so their desire will be to protect territorial integrity where it suits them, and where it does not suit them, so much the worse for the territorial integrity of that country. When the decisions of the UN are in accordance with their wishes, that is fine, and if the UN comes up with something different that is not in accordance with their wishes, so much the worse for the UN Charter," said Vucic.

There will be no counter-rally on May 26

Asked about a campaign in the Croatian press about the (authorities-organized) rally in Belgrade scheduled for May 26, he said that it will not be a counter-rally (to the one already held by the opposition) as rumored, but a rally, an ordinary rally.

"We will not stop traffic for an hour or two... We will not harass anyone. We won't curse. People have the right to live normally. It's a place where positive things will be expressed, about what can be done. And when these tragedies happened, we did not hide our head in the sand, but made decisions," the president reminded.

He stated that it is a rally organized on the eve of important political decisions, where important things will be announced to the citizens.

"We will not abuse anyone's tragedy. We invite the people to come, to tell them the plan for the future ... It is a rally of unity, not divisions... This is not about a counter-rally," stressed Vucic.

He also touched on the opposition, saying that its role is to criticize the government, offer solutions and alternatives...

"Milovan Brkic is one of the ideologues and the most quoted person in the opposition, from Jovanjica to every fabricated affair... Whenever they want to talk, I am ready and I will always be... The MUP (Interior Ministry) cannot give permission to block Gazela (bridge) because it would violate the Constitution - noted the president.

Candles are lit in church, I didn't want to make a song and dance about it

Vucic said that he did not show up at the Vladislav Ribnikar elementary because he had lit a candle in the church.

"I didn't bring cameras, I didn't think it was necessary. It seems to me that a church is the place where candles are lit. I didn't think it was necessary to make a show out of it," Vucic said, answering a journalist's question about why he didn't appear at the school where the mass shooting happened.

He pointed out that he offered his condolences to everyone and that he did that immediately.

"I don't think that anyone is a terrorist, except the one who did it (another massacre last week) that way in Mladenovac. You never heard that from me, don't make things up," he said in response to a journalist.

On the New York Times article

Commenting on a New York Times article in which he and the state were ilnked with Veljko Belivuk's criminal clan, Vucic said that he understood perfectly the message, and who it was coming from.

He stressed that such an article in the New York Times cannot be published "just like that" but that it is known "who decides about such things." When a reporter observed that the author of the text said that he had no evidence of Vucic's involvement, but that the article was still published, he said that nobody is aware of that better than him.

"No one can know that better than me. Are you aware of what you are talking about? The (article claimed) the president talked and met with them (the criminals), bought a meat grinder and whatnot. What are you doing, what kind of senseless fairy tales and stories are these?", Vucic asked.

He emphasized that the text in the New York Times was written from Serbia and that the author had other reasons and needs to produce it, concerning Russia, Kosovo and Metohija...

"I'm not particularly fascinated by their research, I'm even less fascinated by the fear they drove into my bones, and that I should be careful how I behave regarding the issue of Kosovo and Metohija and Russia in the future. They do their job, we do our job. I understood the message very well, I understood who it was coming from, you can't publish it in the New York Times just like that, you know who decides about that, whom it bothers," concluded Vucic.

What did Lajcak say?

When asked what Lajcak told him, he said we have entered a vicious circle, that Kurti was already planning an incursion into Zvecan for tomorrow, because his candidate had won there, that he will not establish the ZSO (Community of Serb Municipalities), and that Lajcak is worried, too.

"Lajcak is worried. He talked to people from the north. They all told him the same thing. He saw the determination of the Serbs to stand up to Kurti's terror and occupation and he is worried. His impression is, not as much as me, but certainly of concern."

"When someone wants conflicts so passionately, as Albin Kurti wants them, you try to avoid them, you try to preserve the peace... Explain to me how certain countries of the Quint say those were legitimate elections with 3 percent (turnout of Serbs in their areas). Do you remember what they said about the elections in Belarus, which were a billion times more legitimate... Why did they do this with the Council of Europe. They are unable to accept the position of protecting territorial integrity of all other members of the Council of Europe as well. They brought the UN Charter and the international order to absurdity. And they want to lecture us, on top of it all."

"That is why it will be remembered, if only in history textbooks, that a small freedom-loving country was the only one that adhered to international public law and the UN Charter, and that its president did not want to participate in a farce and did not want to go to Iceland," Vucic stressed at the end press conference.

His meeting with Lajcak was held this morning in the building of the General Secretariat of the President of the Republic in Belgrade.

Lajcak was previously in Pristina, and after a meeting with Albin Kurti, said that he had an important discussion with him regarding the draft of the Statute of the ZSO.

Lajcak said that he had a detailed discussion with Kurti about how the European Union sees the process of drafting the Statute.

"I believe we have an agreement on this process. We have an agreement, we have the complaints and we need clear ideas for the next steps," Lajcak said.

He also stated that he was worried by what he heard during his visit to the north of Kosovo and Metohija and said that it is necessary to avoid any possibility of escalation and focus entirely on normalization.

Lajcak, who was in Kosovo on Thursday, said on Twitter that it was important for him to visit the north of Kosovo again and talk to different interlocutors in order to get a first-hand impression of the current situation.

"What I heard worried me. We have to avoid any possibility of escalation and focus entirely on normalization," said Lajcak.

Representatives of the Serb List spoke last night in Kosovska Mitrovica with Lajcak about the political and security situation in the area of Kosovo and Metohija and on that occasion conveyed the citizens' concerns about the continuous repression by the regime of the prime minister of the Pristina provisional institutions, Albin Kurti, that is being carried out against Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, especially in the north.

(Telegraf.rs)