Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives, lower chamber of the US Congress on Tuesday evening organized a panel on war crimes in Kosovo during the conflict in 1998 and 1999, RTS reports. The members of the panel were representatives of the Kosovo Albanians only, so the discussion was rather one-sided, RTS correspondent from Washington writes. The main speaker was a former Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, while the brother of three murdered Bitiqi brothers, Ilir Bitiqi and a woman who claimed she was raped by two Serbian police officers in 1998 also addressed t

Independent MP Miladin Sevarlic says US Ambassador Scott gave a lecture at a school in Apatin, showing the children a map of Serbia without Kosovo, B92 reports. Kosovo is Serbia's southern province where ethnic Albanians 11 years ago unilaterally declared independence, which Serbia considers to be a violation of its Constitution and territorial integrity. Sevarlic told reporters in the Serbian National Assembly on Friday that Ambassador Scott spoke at the Zarko Zrenjanin elementary school in Apatin, a town in northern Serbia, and that he learned about the event from the local media. "For ho

President Aleksandar Vucic says Serbia has been offered nothing resembling "dual sovereignty" over the north of Kosovo. Therefore, nothing of the kind will happen in Berlin, Vucic told a news conference on Thursday. The meeting will take place at the end of April, dedicated to Kosovo and organized by Germany and France. "Shared sovereignty is always something that is a problematic legal category, while the so-called dual sovereignty - I don't know what that means.

Vienna based daily Der Standard argues that the goal of the upcoming regional conference in Berlin on the Western Balkans is to "bury" a plan on the exchange of territory, the portal B92 reports.

"The Chancellor intends to suggest that North of Kosovo receive a special status - this is also based and in the idea of the Community of Serbian Municipalities, which formation was agreed by the Brussels Agreement, but it has not been applied so far," reported Standard.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Sputnik portal (Serbian language) that the problem of Kosovo, instead of imposing an ultimatum, can be solved only by bringing positions closer and by consensus.

On Sputnik's question about the idea of dual sovereignty in Kosovo, reported by some media in Pristina, Lavrov replied that the West, when it recognized the illegally declared independence of Kosovo, did not mention dual sovereignty.

Correspondent of the Belgrade based news agency Beta from Brussels, Dragan Blagojevic told N1 that the international dimension of the Kosovo problem is reflected in the internal plan - elections.

"Obviously, this is double-tied, as merged vessels. I see the postponement of the decision on elections in function, among other things, not only of internal politics, but it is obvious that Kosovo had a specific weight," Blagojevic says.

Serbian National Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun told RTS morning news edition the USA realized that a compromise is needed in order to change the status of the Serbian southern province. This offer, according to Drecun, would not be on the table for long. Drecun added Serbia must undertake certain measures if Pristina does not revoke the tariffs it imposed. “We avoid all the time to resort to such measures that should correct Pristina’s attitude.

The Angela Merkel's foreign policy legacy is also in the play in the Kosovo-Serbia conflict and the stability of Europe and the future of the Western ally, believes Bodo Weber.

A senior associate of the Democratization Policy Council, a transatlantic research center based in Berlin, reminds Deutsche Welle (DW) that the negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia on a comprehensive agreement, launched in 2012 at the initiative of Chancellor Merkel herself, has seen a major US diplomatic offensive since the beginning of the year.

European Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in Washington on Wednesday that the United States and European Union want to bring the Western Balkans into the EU.

Our shared goal on both sides of the Atlantic is to stabilize the region and bring all six Western Balkan countries into the EU based on established conditions. That’s in our geopolitical self-interest,” he wrote on his Twitter account from a meeting of the Atlantic Council.

Any solution (for Kosovo) needs to have support of the mayor powers, particularly the permanent members of the Security Council. We have an interest in being in close partnership with the United States regarding the Western Balkans and to have their support in encouraging in this important process – Sebastian Kurz.

See the interview at: https://bit.ly/2G1CDCB