Kosovo Answers Russian Foreign Ministry: Reciprocal Relations Legitimate Among States

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On April 7 Kosovo's Foreign Minister stressed after a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry that "reciprocal relations are legitimate in equal relations between states."

"The republic of Kosovo is an independent and sovereign state and it is determined to have good relations with its neighbors. In that sense, relations with Serbia will be built on the principle of reciprocity, as the only legitimate form of equal relations among states. Reciprocity measures only reflect the numerous barriers and obstacles that Serbia has placed before the state of Kosovo," a statement said.

It stressed that Kosovo had not begun applying "the wide gamut of obstacles that Serbia is using against Kosovo," leaving the possibility for Serbia to think and remove its barriers and obstacles toward Kosovo. "Relations between our countries cannot be normalized unilaterally, but need to represent the mutual will of both sides," the statement said, and added that Kosovo had demonstrated a will to improve relations with Serbia and "now it is up to Serbia to lift the barriers and stop using diplomatic aggression against Kosovo."

On its official website the Russian foreign ministry accused the authorities in Kosovo of "continuing to manipulate with the cancellation of a 100 percent tax on goods from Serbia proper, which was established in November 2018 and has hade the result of stopping the process of resolving the issue of Kosovo." The Russian ministry called on Kosovo to completely and unconditionally cancel what it described as "anti-Serb measures."