Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday he expected the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue to continue before the end of June despite obstructions he saw in recent attacks on Kosovo Serbs but added the issue would not be solved without the involvement of the US and Russia.
Vucic said he could not be in Brussels on June 27th and 28th but would be available at any other date.
“Let them (Pristina and Brussels) decide on the date, I’m ready to talk, but I ask for the respect of the Brussels Agreement by the other side too,” Vucic told reporters, adding he wanted to reach an accord with Pristina.
However, he said it was apparent “that there are coordinated, designed, preplanned attacks on the Serbs. Those are not the random attacks.”
Nevertheless, he reiterated he wanted an agreement because “my job is to worry about the country, to save it from all conflicts and wars.”
Vucic added that the frozen Kosovo problem did not suit Serbia because he saw no guarantees that the Albanians would not try to regain the control of the north (mostly populated by the remaining Serbs in Kosovo) by force.
Pristina rejected an invitation for a new round of talks because it wanted the energy deal to top the agenda, while Belgrade insisted that the formation of Community of Serb Municipalities (CSM) should have priority.
European Union expects that a meeting between Vucic and his Kosovo’s counterpart Hashim Thaci could solve the dispute.
Vucic said that the EU mediation between Pristina and Belgrade was acceptable to Serbia, but that “it was unrealistic to expect to reach an agreement without the involvement of the US and Russia,” adding it was not fair that only countries that recognized Kosovo’s independence took part in the dialogue.
