Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated on June 2nd that he does not know what the solution is to ease tensions with Kosovo and is waiting to hear proposals from Western officials visiting Belgrade.
“Only on Monday, when I hear Lajčák and Escobar, then I will call the Serbs from Kosovo for consultations. I don’t know what someone has in mind as a way out,” Vučić said in an interview with Prva television.
The European Union’s Special Representative for the Dialogue Miroslav Lajčák and the U.S. Envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar are scheduled to visit Pristina and Belgrade next week.
Their visit comes amid tensions in northern Kosovo, where local Serb groups in Zvečan, Leposavić, and Zubin Potok have been protesting for a week against the appointment of Albanian mayors in these municipalities.
The European Union has joined France and Germany in calling for new elections in northern Kosovo. The EU also demanded the participation of Kosovo Serbs in these elections and the start of work on the formation of the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities, as agreed in the 2013 Brussel Agreement.
Brussel also warned that failure to meet these requirements would have serious consequences for Kosovo’s and Serbia’s relations with the bloc.
Vučić also said he does not know if Serbs should participate in the elections in northern Kosovo.
“I have to talk to them these days and see what our people will gain, not just what they will lose. We are always ready for peace and tension reduction,” Vučić said, adding that he is not optimistic.
Vučić mentioned that on June 2nd, he had talks with American officials – with the European Union’s International Special Envoy for the Implementation of EU Sanctions David O’Sullivan, with the Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of State Derek Chollet, the U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill, and the U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer.
The Serbian President also announced that on June 3rd, he would visit a Kosovo Serb citizen, who was injured in Zvečan.
According to Vučić’s earlier statements, he is one of the three seriously injured in clashes with the NATO mission in Kosovo, KFOR, during the intervention to disperse Serbian protesters on May 29th.
“[Kosovo Prime Minister Albin] Kurti wants Serbia and NATO to engage in a conflict. Meanwhile, it is not in our interest to go to war with NATO,” Vučić said.
The Serbian President also confirmed that he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week in Moldova and denied that Zelensky asked Belgrade to impose sanctions on Russia.
“We shook hands, spoke for the first time in our lives, for four minutes. They immediately attacked me… because we spoke for four minutes, met, and talked. We did not touch on that issue [sanctions] for a moment,” Vučić said.
