Joachim Ruecker, the UN Kosovo mission, UNMIK, chief said, “only UNMIK can hold elections in Kosovo and all other elections will not have any kind of value.” Ruecker said that Serbian local elections in Kosovo would “violate Resolution 1244″.

Speaking in an interview for an Albanian-language BBC program, Ruecker said that, as before, while the UN mission will not organize the Serbian parliamentary vote, it will not stop it from being held in Kosovo either.

He said that he “found out through the media” that Serbia was planning to organize voting in Kosovo for the parliamentary and local elections, and he confirmed that he was having talks on the issue with Serbian officials.

“I asked if it was true, and I told them that if it was, it presents a violation of Resolution 1244 and UNMIK’s mandate, which is unacceptable,” said Ruecker. He said that this letter from Serbia stated that “it respects the mandate of UNMIK in some way.”

Ruecker said,“I will repeat that only UNMIK can organize elections on the territory of Kosovo. I will also state clearly that if Serbia tries to organize local elections, they will not be valid.”