US Ambassador to Serbia, Kyle Scott will hold a series of meetings in Pristina with Kosovo officials and other prominent individuals.
Answering to Tanjug's question regarding the topics of the upcoming talks Ambassador Scott will have in Pristina, the American embassy in Belgrade replied that he would meet with them in order to hear their opinions and learn more about the situation in the region.
Vecernje Novosti today write that the authorities in Pristina largely present to the western embassies their solution for the status of an independent Kosovo in which the position of the Serbs would be arranged by the model of South Tyrol in Italy.
This action coincided with the agreement of Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj that there is no negotiation of demarcation and threatens to place Belgrade before a fait accompli, Novosti learns.
Serbian Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin has fiercely criticized former High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina Paddy Ashdown for warning against changes to borders in the Balkans.
“How was that not dangerous when Yugoslavia was being broken up,” Vulin told TV Pink on Thursday.
By: Vladimir Gligorov
An agreement on normalizing relations between Serbia and Kosovo appears to be becoming more likely. The deal apparently involves the correction of the borders or a swap of territories. How did the parties in conflict arrive there? What are the regional and international ramifications? And what are the chances for success?
See at: https://wiiw.ac.at/rights-and-territories-in-the-western-balkans-n-336.html
Steven Meyer, former CIA official in charge for the Balkans, in his Op-Ed for the Belgrade-based weekly magazine Nedeljnik, described seven theses of “Balkans’ pathology” B92 reports, re-running excerpts of the article.
Abbot Sava Janjic says to Vreme, the weekly based in Belgrade, that the security situation in Kosovo is very tense after statements by politicians from Belgrade and Pristina, but also from the international community, who talk about “delineation" or "border correction".
"Such irresponsible statements and a special media campaign that attempts to impose this "solution" on the public as the only right one, worsened relations multiple times between Albanians and Serbs," Janjic told the weekly Vreme.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said yesterday “that we are very far away from any solution” in relation to Kosovo and if he “may predict” Belgrade “would get nothing” from negotiations with Pristina, Danas daily reported.
Asked to comment on the Kosovo Prime Minister opposing Hashim Thaci to continue talks with him, Vucic responded “he does not want to get involved in their internal matters.”
The United States, which will take over the presidency of the Security Council, will not include in the agenda in September a report by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the situation in Kosovo, writes Belgrade based daily Vecernje Novosti.
Guterres's regular report refers to the period from April 16 to July 15, 2018, and it was due to be debated in August, but the UK "took it off the table", the daily reported.
More than 10,000 people are still listed as missing in the wars in the former Yugoslavia, an organization of the families of missing persons said on Tuesday.
A total of 10,281 people are still listed as missing and their fate is unknown, including a little more than 3,600 Serbs, the Coordination of Serb Associations of Families of the missing and killed in the former Yugoslavia said.
Former Serbian Minister of Defense, Dragan Sutanovac told N1 on Wednesday that the reintroduction of mandatory military service is just a media initiative aimed at diverting public attention from Kosovo as the most crucial topic.
Sutanovac added he doubts it would be realized, saying the current Defense Ministry is “lost and incapable of finishing the process of professionalization of the army.”