Foreign Ministry: Ukraine takes steps towards recognition of Kosovo

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Vasily Bodnar. Photo: ua.interfax.com.ua

We are taking steps to officially recognize Kosovo. This was announced by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Vasily Bodnar in an exclusive interview with the Albanian TV channel RTV Ora.

“We have not officially recognized Kosovo, but if you look at our steps, there are some. Last year we made the decision to work with Kosovar passports. Now our ambassador here (Tirana) and ambassadors in other parts of the world have received instructions to recognize these passports and not restrict travel. Perhaps, starting with such small steps, we will be able to move towards some results. I am not talking about a specific perspective because our formal position is our formal position. Thus, we must tackle this matter in the circumstances in which we find ourselves,” Bodnar said.

According to the Ukrainian diplomat, it is impossible to draw parallels between Kosovo and the Crimea, since they are "two completely different things". “Traditionally, we have been committed to the country's territorial sovereignty. This is our principle. But for us, there are no parallels between these two cases. This is because the case of Kosovo is one thing, and the case of the Crimea is another one,” he said.

It should be noted that the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo is one of the countries of Europe with a Muslim population, where Orthodox churches are massively destroyed, attacked and desecrated. In the case of the recognition of the Republic of Kosovo, the world was divided into two parts: some countries recognized the independence of this state, but the majority, to which Ukraine belongs, did not.

As the UOJ reported, Kosovo is the holy territory of the Serbian people, according to Serbian Patriarch Irinej.

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