Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said Wednesday that some countries on the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of World Cultural Heritage tried Tuesday to get Serbian heritage re-designated as Kosovo's heritage, but the attempt failed.

"Luckily, this did not happen, but what did happen is that a true diplomatic war was fought over this issue in the past 72 hours in Paris," Jeremic told reporters after a Southeast Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP) meeting in Becici. He said yesterday Serbia managed to defend itself "from the attempt to steal our identity and falsify history."

According to him, the countries which helped Serbia and prevented this were Russia, China, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, Mali, Egypt, Cambodia and Mexico. "Serbian Orthodox monasteries are not and cannot be cultural monuments of Kosovo," Jeremic stressed.

He added that as long as Serbian people remained proud of who they were, these attempts would be unsuccessful. The UNESCO World Heritage Convention took place in Paris from June 19 to 29.