Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BELGRADE36
2009-01-13 13:18:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Belgrade
Cable title:
SERBIA: HIGH-LEVEL OFFICIALS DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM TADIC
how-toVZCZCXRO5627 PP RUEHIK RUEHPOD RUEHYG DE RUEHBW #0036 0131318 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 131318Z JAN 09 FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0866 INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE RUEHPS/AMEMBASSY PRISTINA 0019 RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0039
UNCLAS BELGRADE 000036
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PREL KPKO KV SR
SUBJECT: SERBIA: HIGH-LEVEL OFFICIALS DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM TADIC
COMMENTS ON MITROVICA INCIDENTS
REF: STATE 2463
UNCLAS BELGRADE 000036
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PREL KPKO KV SR
SUBJECT: SERBIA: HIGH-LEVEL OFFICIALS DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM TADIC
COMMENTS ON MITROVICA INCIDENTS
REF: STATE 2463
1. (SBU) In conversations with the Ambassador on January 11 and 12,
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and National Security Council chief
Miodrag Rakic distanced themselves from inflammatory comments made
by President Tadic following violent incidents in Mitrovica
(reftel). In response to the Ambassador's assertion that Tadic was
both wrong on the facts and had exacerbated the situation on the
ground, Jeremic said that he had been out of the country when the
statements appeared in the press and that he had called Tadic to
inform him the comments were a mistake. Jeremic also stressed that
he "personally made sure" that the GoS did not send letters,
referred to in Tadic's comments, to UN Security Council members and
EU officials. Rakic likewise indicated that he had not agreed with
the move, and had also been away at the time of Tadic's comments.
2. (SBU) Tadic's foreign policy advisor Jovan Ratkovic had stood by
the statements on January 6, insisting that EULEX inaction in the
face of information warning of orchestrated violence by ethnic
Albanians compelled Tadic to react. Ratkovic, drawing a parallel
with the March 2004 unrest in Kosovo, also argued that Belgrade and
the Kosovo Serbs had the most to lose from violence and therefore
needed to warn others not to provoke it.
MUNTER
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PREL KPKO KV SR
SUBJECT: SERBIA: HIGH-LEVEL OFFICIALS DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM TADIC
COMMENTS ON MITROVICA INCIDENTS
REF: STATE 2463
1. (SBU) In conversations with the Ambassador on January 11 and 12,
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic and National Security Council chief
Miodrag Rakic distanced themselves from inflammatory comments made
by President Tadic following violent incidents in Mitrovica
(reftel). In response to the Ambassador's assertion that Tadic was
both wrong on the facts and had exacerbated the situation on the
ground, Jeremic said that he had been out of the country when the
statements appeared in the press and that he had called Tadic to
inform him the comments were a mistake. Jeremic also stressed that
he "personally made sure" that the GoS did not send letters,
referred to in Tadic's comments, to UN Security Council members and
EU officials. Rakic likewise indicated that he had not agreed with
the move, and had also been away at the time of Tadic's comments.
2. (SBU) Tadic's foreign policy advisor Jovan Ratkovic had stood by
the statements on January 6, insisting that EULEX inaction in the
face of information warning of orchestrated violence by ethnic
Albanians compelled Tadic to react. Ratkovic, drawing a parallel
with the March 2004 unrest in Kosovo, also argued that Belgrade and
the Kosovo Serbs had the most to lose from violence and therefore
needed to warn others not to provoke it.
MUNTER