Sooner or later the EU must accept Serbia and other Western Balkans states as its members, since it is the only way to “preserve” these countries from the influence of other stakeholders, foremost Russia and China, diplomatic sources unofficially told Belgrade-based daily Danas.

They noted “the enlargement is the only tool at the Union’s disposal when it comes to the Balkans,” although it remains completely uncertain if 2025 would be a year of Serbia’s and Montenegro’s accession to the EU.

Serbia has been pointing out to a real problem of Pristina possibly resorting to a military conquest of the north of Kosovo. This coincides with Pristina starting to apply some unreasonable decisions, Foreign Affairs Minister and First Deputy PM Ivica Dacic said, Tanjug news agency reports.

Ivica Dacic, Serbia’s Foreign Minister said on Monday the European Union-facilitated Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on normalisation of relations would not resume until Kosovo’s import tariffs were in place, the Beta news agency reported.

The dialogue has been on hold since last November after Kosovo introduced the 100 percent import tariffs on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and has been refusing to suspend or lift them despite pressure from the international community.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met today with US Ambassador Kyle Scott and discussed Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Tanjug news agency reported.

Serbian Minister of Defense, Aleksandar Vulin said that he is in favor of delimitation with the Albanians taking place “as soon as possible.” On the other hand, the Serbian Military Union filed criminal charges against Vulin for “endangering the territorial integrity and betraying the country, “ and requested his dismissal and arrest, Belgrade-based BETA news agency reported.

“When we determine where the line is, we will be able to defend it,” Vulin told Belgrade daily newspaper Vecernje Novosti on Sunday.

After Albanian soldiers toured Mitrovica North couple of days ago and the announcement that several hundreds of them would be deployed to the north of Kosovo, Chairperson of the Serbian National Assembly Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun said it represents an endangerment of the security of Serbian people there.

Drecun told TV Pink he has no confirmation that several hundreds of Albanian soldiers would be deployed as part of KFOR, however he did not exclude possibility of that to happen.

Former head of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo and Metohija Nebojsa Covic, believes that "some evil is in store" for Serbs in northern Kosovo. In his view, Pristina authorities, with the support of their foreign mentors, are planning to "round off their sovereignty in the whole territory of Kosovo and Metohija."

The presence of the Albanian army in the northern part of Mitrovica was "deliberate and planned," the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said. The goal was to intimidate the Serbs in Kosovo and provoke Serbia, President Vucic said on Friday.

Late on Thursday, the Serb List, a party representing Serbs in Kosovo, asked KFOR to explain the presence of several soldiers from Albania in the northern, Serb part of the ethnically divided town earlier in the day.

Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Marko Djuric said on Saturday that he spoke to US officials in Washington about ending the tariffs which Pristina introduced for Serbian products and said he will “knock on every door” in the world to present Serbia’s arguments.

Djuric told Serbian public broadcaster that he spoke to US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Matthew Palmer and representatives of the US Congress, the US National Security Council, and the US Senate and informed them of the situation Serbia is currently in.

Serbian authorities said Saturday their delegation has prevented Kosovo representatives from taking part in an international climate conference in Tirana.

The Serbian representatives insisted on the removal of Kosovo symbols from the conference, citing the UN Resolution 1244, which defines Kosovo as a United Nations territory and therefore it can only use the UN logo, not the Kosovo flag.