The Foreign Ministers of Serbia and Kosovo, Ivica Dacic and Behgjet Pacolli, told the Bled Security Forum that Belgrade-Pristina relations need to be normalized and added that they expect Matthew Palmer, Washington‘s new envoy for the Western Balkans to play a positive role in restarting their dialogue.

Speaking at the Forum on Tuesday, Palmer said that he believes there is room to reach an agreement to resolve the issue in the time after the new Kosovo government is formed and the elections in Serbia next spring.

Serbia’s Ambassador to Russia Miroslav Lazanski said on Tuesday that US diplomat Matthew Palmer should not have agreed to be special envoy for the Western Balkans.

“If he had studied history a little he should not have accepted. All envoys either died or were dismissed, from Richard Holbrooke to Hoyt Lee. I don’t know of any envoy to the Western Balkans who succeeded. This is something that every smart American politician should avoid,” he told the N1 morning show.

The newly formed coalition of Kosovo's Serbs will go to the polls on 6 October and participate in an unequal and difficult battle, writes Belgrade based daily Danas.

President of the European Movement of Serbs from Kosovo and member of the newly formed coalition, Rada Trajkovic, told Danas that the Serbian List has already begun campaigning against this newly formed coalition, but that it nonetheless expects solid results.

The Fatherland (Otazbina) People’s Movement of Kosovo Serbs says that it would boycott, as they say, “false elections” announced the beginning of 2020 and called the Kosovo Serbs and displaced persons not to turn out to vote.

The movement is a member of the Serbian opposition Alliance for Serbia (SzS).

Internal Affairs Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told Belgrade based TV Pink that the Serbian authorities are talking to every possible country about Pristina's request to join Interpol.

Stefanovic says that the aim of those contacts was to prevent the “politicization” of the international police organization whose members voted not to grant membership to Kosovo in 2018.

Russian ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko told N1 on Thursday that Russia sees Serbia as a link between the West and Moscow, adding the free trade agreement between Serbia and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) was expected to be signed on October 25.

He added that Serbia’s road to the European Union should not distant the country from EAEU.

Botsan-Kharchenko also said that EU candidates should not face a choice between Brussels or Moscow.

The leader of the Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP) Dragan Djilas told Belgrade based daily Danas that Serbia’s opposition serves “as ikebana” to the international community which, according to him, supports President Aleksandar Vucic who is expected to recognise the independence of Kosovo.

He said the people would “win the fight for their freedom themselves as many times in history and when we win, we’ll know we don't owe anything to anyone.”

Boris Tadic, Serbia’s former President, said on Thursday he favoured the election boycott for now, but added that all aspects of the decision should be taken in account, the FoNet agency reported.

Tadic, who was former head of state, from 2004 to 2012, and now is the leader of the opposition Social-Democratic Party (SDS), said the mobilisation for the boycott demanded “higher level of organisation (within the opposition) than during election campaigns.”

NATO deputy spokesperson and the head of Press and Media Piers Cazalet told BBC in Serbian on Thursday there was no health risk from depleted uranium used in the Alliance’s bombing of former Yugoslavia during the 1998-1999 was in Kosovo.

Serbia’s media reported that the German soldiers who took part in NATO missions in the Balkans demanded compensation for their exposure to depleted uranium.

Opposition People’s Party (NS) leader Vuk Jeremic told Belgrade daily Danas that there is no time left to negotiate with the authorities about the elections coming in the spring of 2020, adding that a boycott does not mean running from a fight.

“On the contrary, it is the most honest form of battle for the benefit of the citizens,” he said.