Annexation of the three southern Serbian municipalities populated by Albanians, by Kosovo, will not be on the agenda of the EU facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Serbian Government official in charge of the region Zoran Stankovic told TV N1.

Stankovic, who is heading the Coordination Body for Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja municipalities, added the international community representatives had told him there would be no exchange of territories (between Belgrade and Pristina) because that would trigger a chain reaction not only in the Balkans.

„Russia is always committed to the strict and accurate fulfillment and compliance with UN SC Resolution 1244. We support the actions of Belgrade aimed at fulfilling this most important international document,”  Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Sochi yesterday following the meeting with his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic, KoSSev portal reported.

Minister Lavrov also called on KFOR and EULEX to „prevent any attempts of violence and vandalism in Kosovo, in particular against Serbs and religious sites.“

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will be in Belgrade for Serbia’s grand military parade on the occasion of the centennial of the victory in the First World War, the Vecernje Novosti daily confirmed on Friday.

This will be Putin’s second visit to Serbia after he attended a previous military parade in honour of the liberation of Belgrade in WWII, in October 2014.

Serbia wants to keep the peace and protect its interests, territory and the rights of the Serbian people, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday.

Vucic told the Serbian public broadcaster RTS that the main goal is “preserving peace and stability because that means that Serbian children have a future”. “Keeping the peace is better than making mistakes,” the Serbian President said.

Chairperson of Srpska Lista, Goran Rakic told Vecernje Novosti daily Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic would come to Kosovo in September in order to present his stance on the Kosovo issue.

Rakic added, beforehand President Vucic would consult with Srpska Lista representatives. Rakic said President Vucic always consults with them, and now tries to ensure the Kosovo issue to be resolved in a manner that provide for Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija better life and security.

Talks between Serbia and Kosovo on a possible redrawing of borders largely along ethnic lines are threatening to reignite a familiar European tinderbox.

Despite questions over whether they even have a mandate to do so, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci have embarked on high-level talks that could envision Kosovo's Serb-dominated north coming under Belgrade's rule in exchange for the Albanian-dominated Presevo Valley in south Serbia being handed to Pristina.

The Mayor of the Presevo municipality, a part of Serbia’s southern region of Presevo Valley, said late on Thursday that his fellow ethnic Albanians were against the exchanges of territories with Kosovo, “even if that means we will stay where we are now,” the Beta news agency reported.

Sqiprim Arifi said that Presevo Valley ethnic Albanians “want a strong Kosovo, and its north (with a Serb majority) even if the price we have to pay is to remain under (the control of) Serbia.”

Speculation is increasing about a possible agreement between Belgrade and Pristina that would mean a change of borders.

After a lengthy silence, the United States have stated their position on the idea.

On several occasions foreign media, analyzing the possible solution to relations between Serbia and Kosovo, mentioned the danger of the rise of new tensions in the Balkans due to the possible border changes in the Balkans, and one of the reasons was that the US administration, with the arrival of Trump, seems to have left the region to "in the lurch."

Now is the moment to exit the frozen conflict on the issue of Kosovo and take a path that would be taken by nations that solve problems and thus become victors.

This is what Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has said, in a statement to Tanjug.

At the same time, she urged all actors of political and public life to take a responsible attitude towards this issue, and citizens "to stand with the president of the Republic, in an effort to find a solution for Kosovo and Metohija and for the future of the country."

It is Kosovo’s fragile democracy that will pay the price of any deal struck by Hashim Thaci to partition the country. The EU should think twice.

“Who do I call if I want to call Europe?” former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger famously asked.

In 2009, Kissinger belatedly got his answer when the Treaty of Lisbon created the post ofHigh Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

But the decade since has done little to consolidate the EU’s 28 states around a coherent, united policy on Kosovo.