Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said US must apologize for the bombing of Yugoslavia, and then they can ask others to look to the future

"The United States must apologize for bombing the former Yugoslavia back in 1999 and pay compensation to the relatives of those killed and injured in the US-backed NATO air raids, and then they could ask others to look into the future", Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.

As things stand now, Kosovo elections will bring new players to power. The latest deadline the Western states want to impose on reaching an agreement with Belgrade is December, respectively the end of this year, Belgrade-based Blic daily reports on its front page today.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Rasim Ljajic said the Czech Republic President statement that Prague might reconsider the decision on recognition of Kosovo independence, as well as voices from Brussels and Washington about the need for compromise, showed that Pristina’s status had not been solved yet,  BETA news agency reports on Thursday.

Ljajic also told RTS that one shouldn’t be optimistic that Milos Zeman’s statement would influence other European Union member states, but it showed that in Prague as well as in the EU, there was no consent about the issue.

We need to explain to the people of Kosovo and Serbia that the agreement, which they may not like, is in their best interest, said U.S. Senator Ron Johnson.

Johnson visited Belgrade and Pristina last week.

He told the Ukrainian Voice of America service that it is up to leaders in Belgrade and Pristina to decide whether they can reach an agreement.

RTS reports about polemics between the newly appointed US envoy for the Western Balkans Mathew Palmer and Russian Ambassador to Serbia, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko. Earlier Palmer told Montenegro-based television that Moscow wishes unstable region. Botsan-Kharchenko responded to this by saying why would Russia need instability in the Western Balkans while her leading companies are implementing the long-term projects in Serbia.

Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Wednesday that Belgrade counted on the US help and its wish to be constructive regarding the dialogue with Pristina on the normalisation of relations, but that Washington should “push” Pristina into the reason, the Beta news agency reported.

Washington has taken the first step to shake up the European Union which is focused on its own problems and the initiative taken by US envoy Matthew Palmer should motivate the countries of the Balkans to find a solution for their problems, former High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina Christian Schwarz-Schilling told Deutsche Welle on Tuesday.

Leader of Peoples’ Party (NS) Vuk Jeremic called for the boycott of elections in Serbia, arguing that in that case all decisions made by the institutions elected after the poll and international agreements that the authorities would sing, including the eventual agreement on “delineation” by which Pristina would get seat in the UN would be illegitimate, Kosovo-online portal reports.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Belgrade based TV Prva that he was extremely happy that Ksenija Bozovic (CI SDP) had decided to join the Serbian List.

"I am very happy because of Ksenija Bozovic and others who have joined the Serbian List and the most important is the unity which opposes the attempts of Albanians and part of the international community and those who support the destruction of that unity," Vucic emphasized.

The Foreign Ministers of Serbia and Kosovo, Ivica Dacic and Behgjet Pacolli, told the Bled Security Forum that Belgrade-Pristina relations need to be normalized and added that they expect Matthew Palmer, Washington‘s new envoy for the Western Balkans to play a positive role in restarting their dialogue.

Speaking at the Forum on Tuesday, Palmer said that he believes there is room to reach an agreement to resolve the issue in the time after the new Kosovo government is formed and the elections in Serbia next spring.