BELGRADE, Serbia

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Thursday that Kosovo will open an embassy on the moon before it opens a diplomatic mission in Belgrade.

'To follow on the science fiction coming out of Pristina, I want to say that they will open an embassy on the moon before Belgrade,' he said.

Dacic's remarks came after local and regional media outlets claimed that the Kosovo Foreign Ministry's website includes the Republic of Serbia on its list of embassies.

He added that such lies always appear before elections.

Belgrade and Pristina exchanged liaison officers without diplomatic status whose offices are in the European Union missions in Serbia and Kosovo.

Daci said Belgrade host 72 accredited foreign diplomatic-consular missions representing sovereign, independent states but "Kosovo does not, nor will it ever."

Earlier in the day, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in a video shared on social media vowed that he would never sign an agreement recognizing the independence of Kosovo.

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, with most UN member states including the US, UK, France, Germany and Türkiye recognizing it as an autonomous country.

Serbia, however, still considers Kosovo as its territory.