PM's adviser: Legal means include war

BELGRADE -- Prime Ministerial Adviser Aleksandar Simić says that there is still no solution to the Kosovo crisis anywhere in sight.

Simić said that Serbia would defend Kosovo by using all the means it had at its disposal.

"When someone fails to respect the Security Council, the only body that ought to react in times when there is a threat of aggression and war, particularly when someone does not observe Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and the resolution that was adopted in line with it, then there is nothing else a country can do," Simić said late on Tuesday, in a live broadcast on Radio-Television Serbia (RTS).

Asked what was missing in Serbia’s daily claims that it would fight for Kosovo using all legal and political means, he replied that war was also a legal means, when no other options remained.

“Serbia has had negative experiences from certain armed clashes during the civil wars in the former Yugoslavia, and this is why we are more prudent and cautious now, but, of course, state interests are defended by war as well,” Simić stressed.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party (DS) has called Simić’s comments irresponsible and dangerous.

“At a time when Serbia has pledged itself as a factor of peace and stability in the negotiating process, Simić, in his role as prime ministerial adviser, comes out with these menacing, dangerous comments that jeopardize Serbia’s position before the Security Council, sending the message that warmongering was being conducted in Serbia,” reads a DS statement.

The statement goes on to say that Simić is clearly not aware of the fatal consequences of the wartime policies that drove Serbia to fighting for Kosovo.