Ambassador: Greece won't recognize Kosovo

Source: Beta

BELGRADE -- Greek Ambassador Dimosthenis Stoidis has denied that his country would recognize the unilateral declaration of independence made by Kosovo's Albanians. The top Greek diplomatic envoy in Belgrade was reacting to a recent statement coming from Skender Hyseni, appointed by the government in Priština to be its foreign minister. "It isn't clear to me what the source of Hyseni's information is, or his precise statements. Greece's stable, principled stance on the issue is known," Stoidis said in an interview for Vienna's Der Standard newspaper. He also said that Greek PM George Papandreou recently confirmed this position in his meeting with Serbian President Boris Tadić. Papandreou was in Belgrade in early January when he said that the complex issue of Kosovo should be solved based on the UN Charter and respect of international law.