MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti) - No one is entitled to settle the issue of Kosovo's independence without Serbia having its say, the Russian president said ahead of his Tuesday visit to Belgrade.
"Despite attempts by Kosovo independence defenders to present it as an irreversible process, [they] will not be able to close the issue. We believe it is necessary to prove, step by step, that there still is an alternative to legal arbitrariness," Dmitry Medvedev told a Serbian newspaper.
"And without Serbia's last word, no one can state that the Kosovo issue has been resolved," he told Vecernje Novosti.
Serbian President Boris Tadic was quoted by national media on Saturday as saying Medvedev's visit to Belgrade will help deepen Russian-Serbian ties. Moscow supports Belgrade's view that Kosovo is an indivisible part of Serbia.
Medvedev's trip to Serbia, during which he will attend celebrations to mark the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade from Nazi forces, will be the first visit to the country by a Russian head of state since Vladimir Putin visited in 2001.
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