Foreign policy commentator Bosko Jaksic and Chair of the Centre for Strategic Alternatives Aleksandar Mitic told TV N1 that Russia is in favour of maintaining “status quo” in Kosovo.
Both interlocutors agreed Kosovo would be a dominant topic in Vucic-Putin meeting in Moscow, but they disagreed when it comes to Serbia’s position related to Kosovo, TV N1 reported.
“Putin is interested to see how far Vucic is ready to go in regard to the legally binding agreement, while Vucic was interested to see if Russia would block certain things.” It is not in favour of Russia to resolve Kosovo issue, as according to Jaksic, it is the main corridor of Russian influence in Serbia.
Jaksic also added position of Russia on Kosovo is diametrically opposite of that of the West, with USA insisting Kosovo issue to be swiftly resolved. Based on Vucic’s statement, Jaksic thinks he is also more prone to resolve the Kosovo issue within a short time, which is contrary to the stance of Moscow.
On the other side, Aleksandar Mitic thinks one should not rush with resolving the Kosovo issue, since Serbia has much better international position today than five years ago, and it would get support from Moscow for such a stance.
Russia, he said, supports stance of the majority of the Serbian citizens who are insisting on respecting the international law and Serbian Constitution. He reminded that the majority of participants in internal dialogue on Kosovo also voiced a stance the time has not come yet to resolve the Kosovo status issue, and expressed hope Vucic would respect the stance of the majority.
Mitic also added that West by resolving Kosovo issue attempts to kill few birds with one stone, to complete the job related to Kosovo status, homogenize EU influence and at the same time diminishes that of Russia and China, TV N1 reported.
