"It was my wish to pay tribute to the man whose views differed from mine, who advocated his ideas in a peaceful manner and who was a representative of Kosovo Albanians with whom we live together," Tadic said in a statement adding that neither Kosovo Albanians nor the international community had understanding for the fact that his attendance would have been an opportunity for relations between Serbs and Albanians to start changing.
Tadic went on to say that the fact that his presence was unacceptable raised the issue of "whether we are acceptable and how we will become acceptable to one another in the future".
At the end of the statement Tadic said that his previous offer of dialogue to Rugova "remains open to his successor".
The Serbian president on Monday asked the UN Mission in Kosovo to enable him to attend Rugova's funeral, but UNMIK said that the decision was up to Rugova's family.
Announcing his possible attendance, Tadic said that it was "expected from the Serbian president to visit Kosovo, which is an integral part of Serbia," a statement that provoked criticism in the Kosovo public and media.
The Pristina-based daily "Kosova sot" said that Tadic had chosen the wrong moment to voice "his country's aspirations towards Kosovo", while Zeri daily said that no official from Belgrade would be welcome at Rugova's funeral.