Russia fully supports Serbia's commitment to achieving justice

At a joint news conference after a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jeremic and Lavrov reiterated they advocate an independent investigation into the allegations in the report of Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty.

Noting that the mandate for the investigation - which will be binding for all - can come only from the UN Security Council, which Serbia is not part of, Jeremic said that he believes "Belgrade can completely rely on Moscow".

The Marty report names leaders of the ethnic Albanian KLA as perpetrators of atrocities that included kidnappings of Serb and other civilians and harvesting of their vital organs for sale in the black market.

According to Lavrov, Russia fully supports Serbia's commitment to achieving justice and will fully support its initiative in the UN Security Council.

"An unbiased investigation must be carried out into the allegations in Dick Marty's report and we fully support Serbia in this issue," Lavrov said.

He added that even smaller crimes have been investigated by international bodies and stressed there must not be a double standard in this regard.

Jeremic added that a credible international investigation under the mandate of the UN is necessary because of the territorial jurisdiction of the bodies which will carry out the investigation, but also because all war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia have been investigated under a UNSC mandate.

"If that was not the case now, it would be hard to fight the impression of a double standard," Jeremic warned.

The Serbian minister warned that Serbia has conducted patient and detailed consultations with all UNSC members and that "the time has come to act."

Lavrov reiterated that Russia supports Serbia's stance on Kosovo and Resolution 1244, but also the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

The Russian FM also stressed that "the importance of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) must not be underestimated".