Serbia recalls envoys from nations recognizing Kosovo

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Serbia is recalling its ambassadors for consultations from the countries recognizing the self-proclaimed independence of Kosovo, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said here Monday.

"Whoever decides to trample on international laws and brutalize and trample on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia cannot continue having normal relations with our friendly, peaceful and democratic nation," Jeremic said after attending the UN Security Council emergency session on Kosovo.

Regretting that the Security Council could not come to a conclusion on the Kosovo issue, the foreign minister said, "Serbia is going to fight, tooth and nail, diplomatically and politically in each and every international forum" for its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Serbia found it "deeply regrettable" that some founding members of the United Nations, some powerful nations, were deciding to trample on international law and order on this very day, he said.

In Belgrade, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told a special parliamentary session Monday that the government has instructed its ambassador to the United States Ivan Vujacic to return home immediately.

The move was in protest against the U.S. decision to recognize Kosovo's independence, and was the first in what is set to be a series of recalls of diplomats from countries who follow America's suit, according to the prime minister.

In another development Monday, the Serbian Parliament voted 225out of 234 at a special session in favor of the government resolution to annul the unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo.

Kosovo, a southern autonomous province within Serbia before the breakup of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, unilaterally declared independence from Serbia Sunday.

The Albanian-dominated region was plunged into ethnic conflict in the 1990s and it has been under UN administration since mid-1999, after NATO airstrikes drove Serbian forces out of the province.