A delegation of the Serbian Radical Party Deputies’ Group in the Serbian National Assembly, headed by its chairman, Tomislav Nikolic, today met a mission of the State Duma of the Russian Federal Assembly, led by Nikolai Vladimirovich Kuryanovich.

At the start of the meeting, held at Assembly House, Mr Nikolic said that the Serbian Radical Party would ‘never accept’ the proposal presented by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahttisaari for Kosovo and Metohia to gain independence, and that it would either ‘help the government defend its Province or come to power to protect it.’ He expressed his conviction that Russia would ‘not allow the trampling underfoot of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 on Kosovo and Metohia and international law,’ and stressed that the Radical Party will, if Kosovo is ‘torn from Serbia,’ oppose Serbia’s entry into the EU; in addition, according to Nikolic, Serbia’s membership in the UN would be ‘brought into question.’

Nikolic underlined that the fate of Kosovo and Metohia was the most important issue for Serbia at this time, and said he expected Russia to provide assistance. He added that the Serbian negotiating team should be recalled, as it has been told that the Ahttisaari Plan would not be changed, and as it does not have the power to decide on Kosovo independence under the National Assembly’s latest Resolution.
He stressed that the Serbian Radical Party was also ‘fighting’ for its leader, Dr Vojislav Seselj, who has been detained at the Hague Tribunal for four years now, with the start of his trial ‘not yet in sight.’

Russian MPs congratulated the Radicals on results achieved in last month’s parliamentary election, and underlined that both the Russian and the Serbian people had to ‘fight together to preserve their national identity and renew their spiritual values and civilisation space.’ Addressing the Serbian people, they asked for ‘understanding’ for the fact that Russians could not provide more help, as ‘the Russian people was itself fighting to strengthen its nation.’ They also underscored that global trends were indeed changing, as evidenced by last year’s Non-Aligned Summit in Cuba, where a large number of countries expressed their disagreement with Western policies.

The Russian MPs are to be guests at an ‘international scientific convention’ on ‘How the Hague Tribunal invented the crime of “Hate Speak,” and the process against Professor Dr Vojislav Seselj,’ organised by the Serbian Radical Party on 24 February in Belgrade.

The meeting was also attended by the Indian MP Kanwar Bim Singh, who is also to attend the convention as a guest. Expressing his support to Serbia’s efforts to preserve Kosovo, he said India was also experiencing trouble with separatists in Kashmir.