Minister of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation Yvgeny Zinichev will visit Serbia next month, Sputnik said it has learned.

He is very close to the Russian president, so his visit could be some sort of precursor in case Putin decides to come to Belgrade himself this fall.
According to Sputnik, Zinichev will be met by Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, and will also visit the Serbian-Russian Humanitarian Center in Nis, where Russian experts train rescuers and firefighters from Serbia and the region.

The visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Serbia is expected in October or November, said Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Chepurin.

He said that a large number of businessmen from Russia will come before the visit of Putin to Belgrade. Chepurin reminded that Serbia and Russia have good cooperation, but also great unused opportunities that need to be improved.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will be in Belgrade for Serbia’s grand military parade on the occasion of the centennial of the victory in the First World War, the Vecernje Novosti daily confirmed on Friday.

This will be Putin’s second visit to Serbia after he attended a previous military parade in honour of the liberation of Belgrade in WWII, in October 2014.

Director of the Information Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Maria Zakharova told RTS this morning that Russia's attitude towards Kosovo is consistent and strict. This attitude is built on three components - the international legal basis of what is happening in Kosovo, respect for the sovereignty of Serbia, independence and internal Serbian legislation, and understanding the interests of the people and Serbia as a state, Zakharova stressed.

Serbian media reports that on 15 September President of Russia, Vladimir Putin will host Aleksandar Vucic President of Serbia to discuss a solution to Kosovo’s issue.

Before meeting Putin, in their 13th official encounter in several years, and the third since Vucic became the president, he will have another round of talks with Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci in Brussels, within the framework of the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue facilitated by the European Union, planned for early next month.

Pristina should stop provoking the Serb people and Serbia, as Albanians in Kosovo are no longer in a position to threaten anyone, says Ivica Dacic.

The Serbian foreign minister and first deputy PM told RTS on Wednesday that yesterday's arrest of five Serbs in Kosovo was a hostile act that does not contribute creating a positive atmosphere for dialogue.

There is "a great chance" that the solution to the Kosovo problem lies in the meeting between Russian and US presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, Blic write today.

Belgrade-based daily Blic adds that "the two leaders should reach an agreement on that issue."

The daily claims, citing diplomatic sources, that this is "the plan of the Serbian leadership and President Aleksandar Vucic."

A Serbian opposition MP’s open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin drew fierce reactions from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) which claimed that he made death threats against President Aleksandar Vucic.

In his letter, MP Slavisa Ristic drew parallels between Vucic and the late Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic who was assassinated in 2003 which SNS officials interpreted as a death threat.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Serbia in the fall, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Friday morning.

"I was told by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with whom I spoke in Moscow yesterday, that this was being planned," Dacic told RTS.
Dacic also said Lavrov told him that if the format of the Kosovo negotiations in Brussels were to be expanded, Moscow would be ready to participate.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says that Serbia is working on continuation of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina in the same format, under the auspices of the EU, but this problem cannot be solved without great powers, reports Belgrade based daily Blic.