PM Brnabic on Kosovo army, special police, dialogue (BETA, RTS)
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has assessed that the formation of an army in Kosovo and a statement of a KFOR spokesperson "make a mockery of all agreements," BETA news agency reports.
Brnabic said that forming an army was contrary to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, the Brussels agreement, and the Kosovo Constitution itself, and that NATO has "clearly and unequivocally" stated that it was opposed the formation of an armed force in such a way - and added that Serbia would not allow things "to be done that way."
"As for Rosu entering the north of Kosovo, so far we had five such cases, and I spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and said that it was making a mockery of all agreements, and that they must not go to the north of Kosovo (armed) with rifles," Brnabic told RTS.
According to her, the president and the Government of Serbia are conducting an intensive activity in order to point out to all international actors - both those who recognized Kosovo and support the formation of the armed forces and those who oppose it - to all the agreements reached, and remind them of Resolution 1244.
Commenting Pristina's decision to increase the tax on imports of goods from central Serbia by 100 percent, the prime minister said it was "an arrogant, irresponsible, completely unpredictable policy" and assessed that the only good thing about it was that "finally others are also recognizing it as such."
"I think it's come back to bite Pristina, they thought we would react with the countermeasures, so they don't know what to do with these taxes once they saw us behave responsibly and rationally," Brnabic said, adding that Brussels "gave a big recognition to Belgrade because it did not introduce contaminants and thereby undermine regional stability and peace."
She reiterated that Belgrade will not return to the (Kosovo) dialogue while the taxes are in force, adding that Brussels "understands and supports" that.
Speaking about a letter sent by US President Donald Trump to Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, the prime minister said she understood this letter as a call to Pristina to "come to their sense a little and stop with additional provocations such as a (new) framework for the dialogue."
Asked about the possible involvement of the United States, Russia and China in the dialogue, she said that she would not go so far at this time "because there is no dialogue."
"Everything is blocked, we have made 50 steps backwards not only in terms of the dialogue, but rather in terms of what the EU, especially Germany, has been doing about regional stability. We need peace and stability, the prerequisite for any economic progress is regional peace and stability," PM Brnabic said.