A frozen conflict over Kosovo could melt and bring disaster, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic warned in an interview to Financial Times, TV N1 reports.

“Those who think it is possible to maintain a frozen conflict — it is never frozen because at some moment it melts,” Vucic told the FT. “And when that happens it is a catastrophe for everyone,” he said adding that only a deal with Kosovo would bring lasting change to the region.

“I know that Serbs for the most part are against solving the Kosovo problem and everything I say is against what the Serbian public wants,” Vucic said. According to him, the Serbian opposition leaders are “not in a position to accept reality”. “They don’t have a plan, the only important thing for them is to call me a traitor and that everything stays the same. But I do not care about that,” he added.

Vucic also stressed that deal on Kosovo and economic development and trade would help stability in the region. “If we would be able to connect with each other economically and in other ways we have a chance to be successful nations. Otherwise it will be a disaster for all of us,” he warned.

“Everybody is leaving the region (…). That is why we need desperately to change the overall atmosphere in the region. If we do not do it, I don’t see a way out, no rays of hope at the end of the tunnel,” Vucic said.