A former Serbian ambassador to UNESCO said on Thursday that Pristina has less chance of joining that organization than it did two years ago.

Ambassador Darko Tanaskovic told Belgrade based daily Danas that there is no certainty that Kosovo would apply to join the UNESCO this year as some officials in Pristina have said.

“That depends on Pristina’s assessment and the views of its sponsors in the international community,” he said.

Mayor of Presevo Shqiprim Arifi met with the Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Enver Hoxhaj in Pristina on the occasion of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, reports today news agency FoNet.

Hoxhaj yesterday informed the Presevo delegation led by Arifi about the meeting of the representatives of Kosovo with the High Representative for Security and Foreign Policy of the European Union Federica Mogherini and the expectations of Kosovo from the dialogue.

Regional broadcaster N1 reports that “Patriotic forces” supported by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) are planning to bring more than 70,000 people to the plateau in front of the St Sava Temple in Belgrade to greet Russian President Vladimir Putin on January 17, quoting Belgrade based daily Vecernje Novosti.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic leads a devastating Kosovo policy and spreads defeatism which is devastating for the Serb people in Kosovo and aims to prepare a "Serbian recognition of an independent Kosovo," reads the statement of Launchers of the Appeal for the Defense of Kosovo and Metohija, quotes Belgrade based daily Danas.

The Draft Law on Dialogue with Serbia means the official Pristina new approach in Brussels talks, but the question is whether it is realistic and whether it will be applicable in the further course of the dialogue process, professor and expert for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue Belul Beqaj said.

Serbia cannot recognize the independence of Kosovo, because if it does, neither region nor Serbia will receive anything, said president of the European Movement in Kosovo Rada Trajkovic to the Belgrade based weekly NIN and estimated that this would lead to destabilization of Serbia, reports Belgrade based daily Danas.

Belgrade based daily Danas learns that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Palmer should be included in the "mediation mission " of Belgrade and Pristina.

He should take over one of the key roles in future negotiations of the two sides, Danas learns.

Belgrade based daily Danas writes about three possible ways of US engagement in search for a solution to the Kosovo issue.

Commenting on the expected increase of the US engagement in the next phase of negotiations on Kosovo, which many see as final, unofficially Western diplomats for daily Danas cite as the first ''the Kissinger Model''.

A Kosovo human rights activist has expressed doubts about justice for Albanian and Serb victims of the conflict in the 1990s.

Bekim Blakaj, Director of the Humanitarian Law Centre Kosovo, told Belgrade daily Danas that he fears that most of the victims will not receive justice.

“We have no one convicted for the murder of Serbs. The Albanian victims in Kosovo have seen no justice, let alone the Serbs,” he said.

A Serbian government official said there has never been any official talk about the annexation to Kosovo of three municipalities in southern Serbia.

Zoran Stankovic, head of the Coordination Body for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja said an exchange of territories was only mentioned by some Kosovo Albanian political leaders.