K. ministry official to Montenegro: Think it over

Ministry for Kosovo State Secretary Oliver Ivanović said that Montenegro should think hard before establishing diplomatic relations with Kosovo.

“They have at least 30 percent of their population considering themselves to be Serbs and are adamantly against the decision. It is not good to have that many dissatisfied people on your territory and that must be a decisive element before making a decision, because the Montenegrin leadership must pay attention to this,” Ivanović was quoted as saying.

He went on to claim that “trying to ingratiate themselves to the international community and powerful countries” will not bring anything good to Montenegro, and will at the same time, hurt the already fragile relations with Serbia.

Asked whether there could be problems on the border between Kosovo and Montenegro because of the many demands from the Kosovo Albanian side for a part of the territory to be “returned”, which they claim has been “taken”, Ivanović said that “foreigners will not allow any problems.”

“There are many contentious issues between Kosovo and Montenegro, but the foreigners who are molding their opinions will not allow any disagreements or problems,” he said.

“I think that the international factor will not allow them to open the question of territory. These administrations [in Podgorica and Priština] do not have any say whatsoever about their own territory and I think that it will pass fairly quietly,” Ivanović said.