Tadic could snub inauguration over Sejdiu

Ivo Josipovic's inauguration has been scheduled for February 18.

Tadic said that his attendance along with Sejdiu - who holds the office of Kosovo's president - would mean that Serbia was indirectly recognizing Kosovo.

Serbia, the president noted, is ready to take part in regional gatherings where Kosovo is represented as UNMIK-Kosovo or Kosovo-UNMIK.

"This, however, is a political event - the inauguration of the Croatian president, and I am ready to go there under the condition that the issue of Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity is not brought into question," Tadic said in Belgrade this Thursday.

The president added there was "visible decline" in the Serbia-Croatia relations in the last few months, "due to provocative political actions" of the outgoing Croat head of state, Stjepan Mesić, and also due to the manner in which Croatia participated in the Kosovo case before the International Court of Justice, ICJ.

The highest UN court is considering whether the Kosovo Albanian unilateral declaration made two years ago was legal, and when the Croat delegation offered its oral statement in the recent debate, according to Tadić, "they gave false testimony that provinces too had a right to secede in the former Yugoslavia."

"I believe that Serbia and Croats can improve relations, but that direction must be proven not only with words, but also with deeds," the president concluded.