International recognition of Kosovo

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said that resolving the issue of the former province of Kosovo is his "obsession", in a large feature-style interview with the London Financial Times.

"Without resolving that problem, everything I have achieved so far won't be sustainable. The first crisis will kill us," Vucic said in the interview published on Tuesday.

"The first crisis will kill us," he added.

Tnjug is reporting this on Tuesday, citing the daily's interview with Vucic, and its analysis of the position of Serbia and Vucic in the context of solving the Kosovo issue, and of the country's EU membership bid.

Spain does not recognize the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo.

"It was clear from the beginning that Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy does not want to attend due to Spain's position on Kosovo's status," Tanjug reported on Tuesday, citing a senior EU official.

A lower ranked diplomatic officials will still represent Spain at the summit, it has been announced in Brussels.

The Israeli prime minister's gala took place on Sunday evening. Of the 86 states with embassies in Tel Aviv that had been invited, only 32 accepted the invitation and had their ambassadors show up - Serbia among them.

Prva TV carried out "a mini referendum" in Belgrade's streets on Sunday, offering three possibilities when it comes to Kosovo: recognition, frozen conflict, and partition.

Here are some of the responses received from citizens:

In a joint news conference in Belgrade with Cypriot colleague Nikos Christodoulides, Dacic warned citizens traveling to Cyprus that they must "respect the dignity and territorial integrity and sovereignty of that state."

Serbia's latest National Security Strategy lists separatism, extremism, recognition of Kosovo's independence and attempts to revise Bosnia's 1995 Dayton Agreement as some of the main security threats to the country.

They said that these ties are also based on "historical closeness and solidarity of the two peoples as well as full understanding and mutual support in protecting important national interests."

Kosovo's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Behgjet Pacolli, has started a diplomatic tour of Asia, seeking to drum up support for the country's quest for international recognition.

His office said that Pacolli will also take part in the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation, OIC, that will take place in May 5 and 6 in Bangladesh.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, has told the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais that his country will never recognise the independence of Catalonia from Spain, adding that Kosovo and Catalonia do not have anything in common and "establishing any analogy is senseless".