In letter to Putin, Nikolic warned about "brink of war"

In a letter to Vladimir Putin, Tomislav Nikolic stated that the Balkans will be on the brink of war if a British resolution on Srebrenica was adopted in the UN.
Source: Beta, Politika Thursday, July 9, 2015 | 09:23

(Beta, file)

In addition, the Serbian president said that he saw the document as a political instrument whose final outcome would be to weaken Serbia's position and threaten the region.
The Belgrade-based daily Politika said it saw the letter that was sent to the Russian leader "during the time of the preparation of the British resolution." The resolution was on Wednesday vetoed by Russia at the UN Security Council.

Asking Putin to use his authority to prevent the text of the resolution prepared by Great Britain "from arriving to the UN Security Council," Nikolic, according to the daily, wrote that if with this resolution only one, the Serb people, were to be condemned for nothing less than genocide of global proportions - "then the efforts of Serbia, the Serbian government and his own to live as good neighbors will be futile."

In this case, "the Balkans will be on the brink of a new war," he said.

The Serbian president also pointed out that the resolution "is seen as a political instrument, whose final outcome will be the weakening of the position of Serbia, endangering the stability of the region that was created with great effort and commitment of all of us."

It is a great injustice, and false and irresponsible, wrote Nikolic, to reduce the horrors of genocide to the war crime committed in Srebrenica.

The president reminded that in Srebrenica and its vicinity Bosnian Muslim forces and jihadists who joined them killed in cold blood thousands of Serb children, women and elderly, razing 39 villages to the ground.

"No one has been held responsible for it, and in this region alone almost 5,000 Serb civilians have been killed. How, then, can justice be sought for them, will will submit draft resolutions to the UN Security Council for them. 500,000 Serbs have been driven out of their ancestral homes from the territories of Croatia and Kosovo. Who will propose a UN Security Council resolution for them" - asked the Serbian president in his letter to the Russian counterpart.

Nikolic also asked Putin to stand against those moves "focused on opening old wounds, and not on creating the basis for a better future for the Balkans and true reconciliation of nations that made up the former Yugoslavia."

"We all need the timely support of the wise and the powerful so that we can embark on an era of peace and development," concluded the letter, as cited by the Politika daily.