Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Serbs should continue to stick to international law and (UN SC) Resolution 1244, which clearly stipulates that Kosovo and Metohija is a part of Serbia's territory, and cautioned that any attempts to bypass the document lead to destabilisation of the situation in the Balkans.

The normalisation (of the situation in KiM) has to be established strictly in keeping with Resolution 1244. Attempts to bypass the Resolution represent a harsh violation of international law and lead to a destabilisation of the situation in the Balkans, Lavrov said in an interview for the Tuesday edition of Belgrade's daily Vecernje Novosti.

Russia has many times and at different levels warned of Pristina's unilateral moves and pointed to the need that international forces in Kosovo observe the principle of status neutrality, but no one listened, he said.

This created a tense atmosphere in the region, Lavrov said, adding that in such circumstances it is of utmost importance to not only preserve the role of the UN and its Security Council in the negotiating process, but also to intensify the role of the UN Mission in Kosovo.

The Russian foreign minister recalled that his country had been insisting on Serbia's territorial wholeness and the necessity of resolving all disputable issues through dialogue and agreement, and that it supported all activities Belgrade had planned to realize in scope of the political resolution of problems.

This is precisely why we backed the process of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and we are closely following the course of those talks. We hold that the dialogue was recently interrupted because of the destabilisation of the situation at the administrative line between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia, Lavrov said.

As for the investigation into human organs trafficking, Lavrov underlined that one could hardly expect reconciliation in Kosovo and a normalisation of the situation in the Balkan region without a diligent and impartial investigation into that matter.

Culprits have to be punished, regardless of their possible high positions. Russia fully backed Serbia's proposal that the Security Council set up a special international investigative mechanism, he added.

Lavrov also pointed out that although the relations between Russia and Serbia had reached a high level, new forms of cooperation were still being met with reluctance.