The leading British commentator on international affairs in general and Russia in particular, and former Moscow correspondent for The Times,  Mary Dejevsky, told Radio Free Europe in Albanian that a solution between the West and Russia could be reached through an eventual agreement for “recognition of Russian authority over Crimea as an exchange for Russia’s recognition of Kosovo.”

Speaking about the Western countries’ sanctions towards Russia, Dejevsky said that it would have been more productive to see what could be taken as an exchange for consent that Crimea would not be returned to Ukraine.

“Russia’s long relations with Serbia, which are historical, cultural and emotional, will never be lost, but they cannot be eternally seen on the exclusions of the possibility of recognition of Kosovo as an independent state,” Dejevski said.