KOSTUNICA: SERBIA WILL "DO MUCH MORE" THAN DECLINE

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 001204

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2017
TAGS: PREL UNSC UNMIK KV YI
SUBJECT: KOSTUNICA: SERBIA WILL "DO MUCH MORE" THAN DECLINE
TO RECOGNIZE KOSOVO


1. (C) Summary: On the eve of the Security Council's session
on Kosovo (reported septel) Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica
offered Ambassador Khalilzad a familiar mix of legalisms and
ethnic nationalism in arguing against a non-negotiated
solution to Kosovo's status. Kostunica said Serbia is
prepared to negotiate substantial autonomy for Kosovo in
accord with Serbia's interpretation of UNSCR 1244, which he
insisted also categorically precluded any unilateral
declaration of independence and any EU rule of law mission.
Saying "Albanians already have a state," he asked why they
should have another. Ambassador Khalilzad told Kostunica
that the U.S. values its long relationship with Serbia and
wants to see the country take its rightful place in Europe
but warned against retaliatory actions. Kostunica replied
that Serbia would "do much more than just not recognize
Kosovo." End Summary.


2. (SBU) Ambassador Khalilzad met with Serbian Prime Minister
Vojislav Kostunica on December 18 in the Security Council's
conference room. Also participating in the meeting were, for
Serbia, Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic and UN PermRep
Pavle Jevremovic and, for USUN, DepPolCouns and Poloff.


3. (SBU) PM Kostunica praised the recently concluded
negotiations facilitated by the U.S.-EU-Russia Troika as more
effective than those facilitated by UN Special Envoy Martti
Ahtisaari, but charged that the Albanian side had been
promised independence by the U.S. and therefore had not been
ready to make significant concessions. He said Serbia, by
contrast, had cooperatively offered several models of the
substantial autonomy he insisted UNSCR 1244 set as the limit
of Pristina's separation from Belgrade.


4. (C) Kostunica argued that any declaration of independence
by Kosovo would violate resolution 1244's recognition of "the
territorial integrity of Yugoslavia, now Serbia." He said
any EU rule of law mission (ESDP) would also violate 1244
because it "would deal with Kosovo step by step whereas 1244
allows only comprehensive changes via a new resolution."
Pressed by DepPolCouns about Serbia's anti-ESDP argument,
Samardzic said ESDP would be illegal because it had been
included as an annex to last July's draft resolution that had
been "rejected" by the Security Council. He then presented
Ambassador Khalilzad with a 17-page legal brief (e-mailed to
IO/UNP) prepared by Thomas Fleiner of the University of
Fribourg and entitled "Counterarguments with regard to the
Legal Arguments of the Validity of UNSCR Resolution 1244 in
Case of Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Kosovo and
Metohija."


5. (SBU) Kostunica said "there is no reason that Albanians
and Serbs cannot live together since they have been doing so
for more than 800 years." He cited Presevo Valley in
southern Serbia as a "good model for Kosovo" because
"Albanians live normal lives there." In addition to his legal
argument against Kosovo independence, he said "Albanians
already have a state" and "a national minority should not be
allowed to impose its views on us."



6. (C) Ambassador Khalilzad expressed appreciation for
Serbia's commitments to non-violence. He said the U.S.
judgment is that negotiations are exhausted. Khalilzad told
Kostunica that the U.S. values its long relationship with
Serbia and looks forward to its continuation as Serbia takes
its rightful place in Europe. He was confident that
resolution of Kosovo's status would allow the two countries
to focus on the many other aspects of their relationship. He
warned, however, that the U.S. will take a dim view of
actions aimed at punishing Kosovo or sympathetic countries.


7. (C) Kostunica replied that a Kosovo declaration of
independence will make void any existing agreements about
Kosovo, including 1244. He said Serbia would "do much more
than just not recognize Kosovo" and warned that "not
recognizing by definition means something about a
relationship and this will apply also to countries that do
recognize Kosovo."
Khalilzad