Former EU High Representative Catherine Ashton under whose mediation the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue has started in 2012 said at the Belgrade Security Forum that neither side was requested to cross their red lines, RTS reports. She added the aim was to bring representatives of the both sides in the same room, at the same table.
Suzana Vasiljevic, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic media advisor, said on Friday the meeting with Richard Grenell, the US head of state Donald Trump’s envoy to Kosovo, was challenging, but could not go into the details of the talks, the Beta news agency reported.
Speaking to the Prva TV, Vasiljevic said the two spoke alone in the first ten minutes, after which the head of Serbia’s Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric joined the meeting.
Serbian media quoted Balkan experts Florian Bieber and Tim Judah, who expressed surprise at the announced appointment of Richard Grenell as special envoy for negotiations.
Professor at the University of Grazz, Bieber wondered what the role of Matthew Palmer was, the recently appointed US Secretary of State's Special Representative for the Balkans.
"If Trump appoints Richard Grenell as special envoy for Serbia and Kosovo, what than is the role of Matthew Palmer?" Bieber wrote on Twitter.
Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov says that United States intend to revise Brussels agreement, in part related to Community/Association of Serbian Municipalities (ZSO), TASS reported, Serbian media is quoting.
In that way, the US is trying to "pull Kosovo into NATO" and keep its military base there.
The appointment of Matthew Palmer as the US special envoy to the Western Balkans proves how much it is important for the American diplomacy that Kosovo and Serbia reach a long-lasting solution, a retired US Army General Ben Hodges has told the Voice of America (VOA) on Thursday, adding Belgarde and Pristina leaders should have some economic incentives to offer to their peoples "immediately" to persuade them that a solution they will reach is for their benefit.
Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia, confirmed that Serbia was ready to resume the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on the normalization of relations as soon as Kosovo lifted the 100 percent import taxes on goods from Serbia and Bosnia introduced last November, the FoNet news agency reported.
Outgoing US ambassador to Serbia Kyle Scott said on Monday that Belgrade and Washington had a different opinion about Kosovo but that they agreed that the only way towards progress was the resumption of the dialogue on the normalisation of relations, the Beta news agency reported.
Chairman of the Serbian Assembly Committee for KiM Milovan Drecun told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) that the purpose of the elections in Kosovo is to stabilize the Albanian political scene, to build an executive that will be more unified on key political issues and have a firmer position for talks with Belgrade.
Drecun adds that one cannot see willingness among existing Albanian leaders to sit at the negotiating table and seriously engage in talks with Serbia.
US Senator Chris Murphy believes that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is willing to recognize Kosovo but is angry over the 100 percent tariffs imposed by Pristina on goods from Serbia.
Regional broadcaster N1 reported that Republican Senator Ron Johnson wrote on his blog about his recent visit to Belgrade, saying:
Dusan Janjic from the Forum for Ethnic Relations says a new format of Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is likely to be created to include new players
Among others, it will include Russia.
In a statement given to Belgrade based daily Politika, he said that in addition to US Envoy Matthew Palmer, it is possible that Germany and France would appoint a joint representative, or that each of these countries has a representative.