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U.S. Department of State Office of the Spokesman Press Statement

Press Statement by James P. Rubin, Spokesman
January 13, 1999

U.S. Support For Democratization In Serbia

The United States, along with members of the European Union and many others in the international community, is actively engaged in assisting the development of functioning democratic institutions in the FRY, as well as promoting respect of fundamental human rights. Last year and again this year we are spending 15 million dollars on democratization programs there. Our efforts to support independent media and democratic institutions, including NGO's assisting the Serbian democratic opposition, are neither hidden nor secret.

We focus much of our attention on support for independent media in the FRY. The repressive media environment in Serbia, as typified by the draconian press law being used to stifle the free press, is the most serious obstacle facing the opposition. The repressive law on universities is also silencing independent voices and preventing freedom of expression in Serbian society.

The open and widely-publicized nature of our support for democratic institutions makes even more absurd the allegations of a deputy prime minister of the Serbian Republic, who yesterday distributed a crudely forged document with a phony letterhead of the "Central Intelligence Agency, The Balkan Institute" and a fake security classification.

The text of the document is actually that of an academic paper which was released publicly at a Congressional hearing on December 10, 1998. A copy of this paper was doctored with a false security classification and false U.S. government logo and distributed by a senior Serbian official.

This obvious attempt to discredit and taint the widely publicized efforts of the international community to support democratic change in the FRY comes from those in the Serbian Republic government who are afraid of democracy.

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