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In an exclusive interview for Belgrade daily Glas javnosti Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic said that he would 'surely' accept Milosevic's invitation for talks "providing that the issue to be discussed be previously defined". Milosevic is still the legitimate Yugoslav President, Djukanovic reminded going on to say that he himself would not run for Federal President given that he was currently in charge of a high and responsible post of the Montenegrin President.

"The third Yugoslavia has proved to be inconsistent with the interests of Montenegro for the last decade which is why Montenegrin independence, previously promoted by the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro, is a realistic option today", Djukanovic said adding that "Montenegro was still a part of the federation despite Milosevic's policy intended to push out the smaller southern republic from the federal state". Montenegrin President expressed his doubts that the opposition might win the elections in Serbia given the circumstances.

The Montenegrin regime has taken advantage of the meeting between the representatives of the Serbian opposition parties and the ruling parties of Montenegro taking place in Sveti Stefan to share responsibility for destroying the Yugoslav federation with the Serbian opposition, state-run news agency Tanjug stated in its commentary carried by state-controlled Belgrade daily Politika. The statements of some opposition leaders from Serbia claiming that Montenegro wants to remain within Yugoslavia are only a thin disguise for destructive actions of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic and a part of the Serbian opposition bloc given that there is no mention whatsoever of Yugoslavia in their joint statement, Tanjug alleged in its commentary.

This document refers to a hypothetical state of Serbia and Montenegro with new solutions to its Constitution, Tanjug stated adding that, taking into account everything what Milo Djukanovic had said about Yugoslavia while touring European capitals, there should no doubts as to where those new constitutional solutions would take us. The state news agency commented that while Milo Djukanovic was pretending that he was in favour of preserving Yugoslavia, myopic Serbian opposition was actually getting the job done for Djukanovic and their foreign mentors.

Even if the Serbian opposition truly wanted (which is hard to believe) some sort of a restructured joint state of Montenegro and Serbia, this would pose another great danger for the Kosovo Serbs because it could provide an alibi to declare the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 null and void, Tanjug concluded.

"Democratic opposition bloc must come up with only one presidential candidate who has not taken part but neither lost the elections. There are such people within the opposition ranks and it is my personal view that an ideal figure to run for presidency would be professor Vojislav Kostunica, the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) leader", Mladjan Dinkic, G-17 Plus executive director, said last night on the program of Kragujevac RTV Channel 9.

Dinkic described Kostunica as a consistent democrat originating from the Serbian heartland whom even the supporters of the Serbian Renewal Movement would vote for assuming that this party's leadership denied support for the President of DSS. G-17 Plus executive director also said that possible nomination of Vuk Draskovic and Zoran Djindjic for Yugoslav presidency would be "total flops because both of them had already been losing in the previous elections". In his view, Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic would be "a prospective presidential candidate" stating, however, that Federal President should be from Serbia.

The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) turns ten today. High ranking party official Nikola Sainovic said on July 13 this year that SPS was "a mature, stable party with a ten-year-long experience, which possessed strong internal unity and represented the fundamental political force in the country relying on the leftist and patriotic bloc". The Socialist Party of Serbia has managed to withstand the challenges of the times, Sainovic stated, including deliberate destruction of the former Yugoslavia, sanctions and war, but now it is engaged in the reconstruction of the country. Sainovic estimated that SPS resisted temptations standing upright in the mountainous Balkans convinced that its actions were the right ones and went on to say that the people would ultimately be the judge of everything. According to Sainovic, the Party is doing everything it can for the country, its economic development, internal unity, freedom and its independence.

The Socialist Party of Serbia presented its supporters with two songs by Zlatko Manojlovic and his wife Izolda Barudzija entitled "My Serbia, My Yugoslavia" and "We Go on, SPS". Radio Television Serbia and Pink TV have been broadcasting for the last couple of days these songs, including videos.

Federal Telecommunications Minister Ivan Markovic said yesterday that the OSCE's envoy for media freedom, Freimut Duve, should not be concerned for the survival of the electronic media in Serbia and Yugoslavia, Radio Television Serbia reported. Markovic went on to say that Duve's report on endangered media freedoms in Yugoslavia exemplified the work of "German intelligence officers".

"Your mercenaries in uniforms perpetrate violence as members of SFOR and KFOR troops in Kosovo and Metohija thus bringing shame upon the United Nations", Markovic stated in his letter addressed to Duve urging him to send his regards to the Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik and "the US servants in the countries surrounding FR Yugoslavia".

Amongst other things, Duve's report submitted to the OSCE Permanent Council cited the fact that more than 200 Serbian broadcasters were in danger of closing down because the authorities had refused to renew broadcasting licences. Duve, therefore, expressed his concern over the grave circumstances under which the media operated in FR Yugoslavia stressing that already 15 independent media outlets had been closed down since the beginning of the year 2000. He also acquainted the representatives of the 54-member OSCE Permanent Council with the fact that he had sent several letters to Yugoslav Foreign Affairs Minister Zivadin Jovanovic protesting against repression on the independent media.

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