Tanjug - News in Brief Kosovo and Metohija DEP:UN-RUSSIA-KOSOVO SERBIA REQUESTS UN SC SESSION ON KOSOVO, RUSSIA SUPPORTS 12.2.2008 20:33 NEW YORK, (Tanjug) - Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin has said that Serbia is requesting a special session of the UN Security Council on Kosovo for Thursday, Reuters reports Tuesday.
DEP:SERBIA-SECURITY-KOSOVO NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL HOLDS SESSION 12.2.2008 20:19 BELGRADE, (Tanjug) - The Serbian National Security Council held a session in Belgrade on Tuesday, state leadership told Tanjug. DEP:SERBIA-PRESIDENT-KOSOVO SERBIA'S PLACE IN EUROPE, WILL NOT GIVE UP KOSOVO- PRESIDENT 12.2.2008 18:59 BELGRADE, (Tanjug) - Serbian President Boris Tadic said Tuesday that Serbia's place is in Europe but that it will not give up Kosovo, and urged all state officials and party leaders to act responsibly in the expectation of unilateral declaration of independence of the southern province. DEP:KOSOVO-SNV SNV CONDEMNS ANNOUNCED DECLARATION OF KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE 12.2.2008 18:15 GRACANICA, (Tanjug) - The Serbian National Council (SNV) of Kosovo and Metohija on Tuesday condemned in the strongest terms the announcements by Albanian representatives that they will soon make a declaration of independence of Kosovo and Metohija and pointed out that the Serbian and other non Albanian communities were concerned about the future and survival in the province. DEP:KOSOVO-POLICE-ILLEGALS 10 KOSOVO ALBANIANS ARRESTED FOR ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSING 12.2.2008 17:52 BELGRADE, (Tanjug) - The Kosovo Polje police, in cooperation with members of Kfor, arrested ten Kosovo Albanians for attempting to illegally cross the border, the Kosovo Police Service announced on Tuesday. DEP:KOSOVO-YOUTH YOUTH OPPOSED TO KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE 12.2.2008 17:12 KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, (Tanjug) - Representatives of the youth branches of the Democratic Party (DS), the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the Social Democratic Party agreed on Tuesday that youth organizations in Kosovo and Metohija should act jointly in view of announcements by the provisional Kosovo institutions that they would unilaterally declare the independence of the province. DEP:RUSSIA-KOSOVO-EU LAVROV SAYS KOSOVO WITHIN JURISDICTION OF UN SC 12.2.2008 17:09 MOSCOW/GENEVA, (Tanjug) - The determination of the status of Kosovo and Metohija province is within the jurisdiction of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, Russian Foriegn Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday, and warned against the possibility that a unilateral proclamation of the independence of the southern Serbian province could lead to the collapse of the European project. DEP:EU-KOSOVO-POLAND CALL TO OFFICIAL WARSAW NOT TO PARTAKE IN SERBIA PARTITION 12.2.2008 16:58 BRUSSELS, (Tanjug) - Polish opposition party League of Polish Families called on official Warsaw to pull out of ''the partition of Serbia,'' the party's leader and MEP Sylwester Chruszcz. DEP:GREECE-KOSOVO-PRESS EUROPE TO LOSE SERBIA OVER KOSOVO, KATHIMERINI 12.2.2008 16:26 ATHENS, (Tanjug) - Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini assessed on Tuesday that the European Union by its decisions ''irrationally'' incited the partition of Serbia and cautioned that Europe risked losing Serbia on account of Kosovo. DEP:EU-KOSOVO-MISSION LT-GEN DE KERMABON HEADS EULEX, FEITH SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF EU 12.2.2008 16:24 BRUSSELS, (Tanjug) - Former commander of the KFOR, French Lieutenant-General Yves de Kermabon will head the European Union (EU) mission to Kosovo and Metohija in the area of the police and the judiciary, EULEX, while Netherlands diplomat Pieter Feith will be the EU special representative, European officials told Tanjug in Brussels on Tuesday. DEP:ARTEMIJE-KOSOVO AUTHORITIES TO UNITE IN DEFENCE OF KOSOVO 12.2.2008 16:02 BELGRADE, (Tanjug) - Episcope of Raska and Prizren Artemije called on Tuesday on the authorities in Serbia to unite in defence of the country and of the people of Kosovo and Metohija at this point when the fate of the province is decided, and to put an end to selfish inter party bickering. DEP:KOSOVO-STATUS-PARLIAMENT KRASNICI CONFIRMS POSSIBILITY OF DECISION THIS WEEK 12.2.2008 15:49 PRISTINA, (Tanjug) - Kosovo Parliament President Jakup Krasnici on Tuesday confirmed the possibility that the independence of Kosovo could be proclaimed this week, Pristina-based Albanian-language media reported. DEP:KOSOVO-DSS-POPOVIC POPOVIC: DETAILS OF DOCUMENT ON KOSMET TO BE AGREED 12.2.2008 14:19 BELGRADE, (Tanjug) - Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) Vice-President and Minister of Energy and Mining Aleksandar Popovic on Tuesday stated that details on a document with which Serbia would legally respond in case the interim government of Kosovo and Metohija, the Kosovo Albanians, proclaim unilateral independence, which is getting more likely, will be agreed by the government session called for Thursday. DEP:EU-KOSOVO-SECESSIONISTS ANALISTS: EU UNJUST, OBSESSED WITH KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE 12.2.2008 14:04 BRUSSELS, (Tanjug) - The efforts of the European Union that Kosovo secedes from Serbia are unjust and prove that the EU is obsessed with the independence of the Serbian province, participants of a conference on “just secession,” in the organisation of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), assessed in Brussels on Monday. DEP:RUSSIA-KOSOVO-NATO NATO: KFOR DOES NOT NEED NEW MANDATE 12.2.2008 13:50 MOSCOW, (Tanjug) - The mandate of military force in Kosovo (KFOR) and the number of troops will not be changed, Isabelle Francois, Director of the NATO Information Office (NIO) in Moscow, stated on Tuesday. DEP:RUSSIA-KOSOVO-LAVROV LAVROV: KOSOVO CANNOT BE SPECIAL CASE 12.2.2008 13:38 GENEVA, (Tanjug) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday stated that Kosovo and Metohija cannot be a special case over which international law would be violated, underscoring that Russia urges for reason to prevail and a legal approach to the issue of the status of Serbia's southern province. DEP:SLOVENIA-KOSOVO-TIRK TIRK:RECOGNITION OF KOSOVO MATTER OF SOVEREIGN STATES,NOT UN 12.2.2008 12:39 LJUBLJANA, (Tanjug) - Slovenia's President Danilo Tirk has said in talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York that the recognition of Kosovo is not a matter of the United Nations, but rather of sovereign states, which, in acknowledging the province, would have to observe the international practice and international law, the Slovenian Press Agency STA has reported. DEP:US-UN-KOSOVO BUSH AND BAN TO DISCUSS KOSOVO ON FRIDAY 12.2.2008 11:52 WASHINGTON, (Tanjug) - US President George Bush and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will discuss in Washington on Friday the situation in Kosovo and other hotbeds in the world, the White House has said in a statement. DEP:KOSMET-FLEINER-NOVOSTI FLEINER ON LAWSUIT AGAINST COUNTRIES THAT RECOGNISE KOSOVO 12.2.2008 11:44 BELGRADE, (Tanjug) - A lawsuit which Serbia might file with the International Court of Justice against the countries that recignise a unilaterally proclaimed Kosovo independence would be the first of its kind, because it will be for the first time now that a country becomes independent in spite of a UN Security Council resolution which forbids something like that, Swiss Professor Thomas Fleiner has said. DEP:SERBIA-KOSMET-OSCE OSCE MIGHT REMAIN IN KOSMET WITH NARROWER JURISDICTIONS 12.2.2008 11:03 WASHINGTON, (Tanjug) - Finnish Foreign Minister Ilka Kanerva has expressed belief in Washington that the mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Euorope (OSCE) will be able to stay in Kosovo, perhaps with a narrower mandate, if the region declares independence.
