Serbia is striving towards the EU and the country's "traditional friendly" relations with Russia have absolutely nothing to do with its strategic orientation.

 This is what Ivic Dacic, the Serbian minister of foreign affairs, told this to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during their meeting in Washington on Thursday.

WASHINGTON -- The United States thinks a number of European countries, Serbia among them, are "in the line of fire" when it comes to relations between Washington and Moscow.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was appearing before a U.S. Senate subcommittee when he was asked about "the growing influence of Russia in Europe."

In this context, besides Serbia, Kerry also mentioned "Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, and others, Georgia, Moldova, Pridnestrovie," RIA Novosti reported.

Ivica Dacic says he is satisfied with a briefing at the UN Security Council on Tuesday, considering that "both the OSCE and Serbia received support."

"I am satisfied, because this is an indication that the OSCE, and Serbia as the presiding country, have the right approach and have realized the role to be an objective and honest broker in the fulfillment of what constitutes an agreement," Dacic, Serbia's foreign minister and OSCE chairperson was quoted as saying, and adding: "

Parliamentary Committee on Kosovo and Metohija chairman Milovan Drecun says Hashim Thaci's announcement of a "genocide lawsuit" was "an insult to the victims."

Drecun, an MP from the ruling SNS party, said on Monday he believes that Kosovo cannot move forward unless it sets up a special war crimes court in the next few months.

Alastair Campbell, known as former British PM Tony Blair's adviser and spin doctor, has written a blog post about his recent "fascinating" visit to Belgrade.

He recently held a lecture for Serbian government employees tasked with public relations, causing considerable media attention, while the government announced that "cooperation with him and Blair's consultancy will help modernize the state apparatus."

The number of attempted illegal crossings on the Serbian-Hungarian border has dropped, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic has said.

He made the statement during a meeting with Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner.

Stefanovic met with Mikl-Leitner late on Wednesday to brief her on the current situation in the field of illegal migrations.

The opposition Social-Democrats (SDS) have filed a request to initiate proceedings for the removal of President Tomislav Nikolic from office.

The parliamentary group of the party - led by former Serbian President Boris Tadic - said that Nikolic had violated the Constitution.

While domestic analysts believe the talks' resumption was an important step in the negotiations, EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said that a favorable outcome of the dialogue "can contribute to chapters being opened this year."

The Belgrade train is on track to Brussels, but the speed of this train depends on the success of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Serbian Labor Minister Aleksandar Vulin has said that there was "no property or economic security, or social policy" in Kosovo and Metohija.

According to him, there is also "no hope things will get better."

Speaking on the anniversary of the self-proclaimed independence of Kosovo, Vulin told Tanjug that "people have realized that several families rule in Kosovo, with various clans determining their destiny," and that by leaving the territory, ethnic Albanians are saying "what they think about the self-proclaimed independence."

BELGRADE -- Monday marks 14 years since a Nis Express bus came under attack in Livadice, near Podujevo in Kosovo, when 12 people were killed.

The victims - the youngest among them a 2-year-old toddler, Danilo Cokic - were Serbs driven out of their homes in Kosovo. 43 other passengers on the bus were injured on February 16, 2001.