Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that Pristina must make certain concessions in order for Serbs to participate in new elections in the north of Kosovo.
According to him, the Serbs in the north of Kosovo are always ready for talks, but in return something must be offered to them.
"All Serbs in the north believe that Serbia is their country, not Kosovo. That's the reality," said Vucic in an interview with Reuters.
The European Union and the United States have called on Pristina to organize new elections in the Serb-majority area in order to ease tensions, and on Serbia to lift the state of heightened combat readiness and move the army away from the border with Kosovo.
Vučić said that Serbia remains on the European path, and that it managed to balance its foreign policy in order to enable the continuation of friendly relations with Russia and China.
Vučić stated that the Union of Serbian Municipalities (ZSO) has not yet been formed, and that there has been no withdrawal of Kosovo special forces and Albanian mayors.
Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti fears that the Serb-majority region, if given more autonomy, could organize a referendum on joining Serbia.
President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani on Wednesday stated that extraordinary local elections in the north can be called if 20 percent of voters request it by signing a petition. She also accused Serbia of interference.
Responding to her allegations, Vučić said that "what these people are saying is terrifying" and accused Kurti of being unwilling to compromise.
"I am sure that Kurti will not invest a single minute of his time or a drop of sweat to find a compromise solution," said Vučić.
He stated that the Serbian army will remain in a state of high readiness, and not in a state of maximum combat readiness "because it costs a lot".
Vučić also said that Serbia is in negotiations with France about the purchase of Rafal fighter planes, as well as about further strengthening its army with Western weapons.
"Financing is a problem," said the President of Serbia and added that negotiations continued on which missiles to use and on the price of the contract for French planes, which he said last year was around three billion euros. He said that the purchase of "Rafala" will "make Serbia a different country and a much bigger force".
Belgrade plans to conclude an agreement on the purchase of 118 US-made military HMMVVs, known as "Humves", and to import most of them by September, said Vučić.
He said that Serbia remains on the European path, and that it has managed to balance its foreign policy in order to enable the continuation of friendly relations with its historical ally Russia and China.
Symbolic measures against Pristina
The EU member states have hinted at "symbolic" measures against Pristina, after EU and US envoys in the report they submitted assessed as "difficult" talks with Kurti, Radio Free Europe reported.
Representatives of the cabinet of the EU special representative for dialogue, Miroslav Lajčak, submitted a report to the diplomats of the EU member states about the visit to Pristina and Belgrade. Lajcak was there this Sunday with the American envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar.
As several sources from the discussion confirmed for RSE, due to the failure to take steps towards de-escalation, the only immediate measure that could be taken in the near future against the Kosovo authorities is the cancellation of the meeting of the European Commission and Kosovo in a subcommittee within the Stabilization and Association Agreement.
Kurti expressed his readiness to continue talks on measures leading to the calming of tensions, but hesitated to confirm his readiness to immediately withdraw the special police from municipal buildings.
The US and the EU have called on Kurti to withdraw newly appointed Albanian mayors and special police units from municipal buildings in northern Kosovo. They also called for holding new elections, with the participation of Serbs, and for Kosovo to implement the 2013 agreement on the formation of the ZSO. Longtime Western allies have told Kosovo that it will face "consequences" if it does not accept their proposals to resolve the crisis.
According to diplomatic sources, Kurti expressed his readiness to continue discussions on measures leading to the calming of tensions, but "hesitated to confirm his readiness" to immediately withdraw special police from municipal buildings, Beta reported.
"I don't think these things are solved by pressure and mentioning consequences and even sanctions," Kurti told reporters on Wednesday. He complained about the unfair treatment of Kosovo by the US and the EU, which he said were tolerating the "authoritarian regime" of Serbia.
"We believe that being nice to an autocrat will not make him behave better, on the contrary," Kurti said.
He told the Associated Press agency that Escobar and Lajcak "came with the demands of the other side."
Kurti says that the number of members of the Kosovo Special Police Force cannot be reduced until the Serbian criminal gangs either leave the country or are arrested. He said that Kosovo would be peaceful if there were no "orders of violence from Belgrade".
Western powers should not pander to Belgrade, the essential problem of violence in the Western Balkans, Kurti said.
Hill: Vučić is a good partner, the question is whether Kurti is too
The US ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill, said on Thursday that the question is whether the US can count on Kurti as a partner and added that he "does not remember such deep divisions between Pristina and Washington".
He said in an interview for "Voice of America" that Serbia is a constructive partner in the process of the current crisis in Kosovo, but that it is expected to recognize Kosovo's documents and not prevent Pristina from joining international organizations.
The US ambassador said that the US has a problem with Kurti.
"It seems to me that we have some very fundamental problems with him, whether we can count on him as a partner. But I will leave that decision to our embassy in Pristina," Hill said.
Hill disagrees with assessments that the West supports "stabilocracy" and turns a blind eye to violations of freedoms in Serbia
According to him, there is "de-escalation, certainly on the Serbian side, and the expectation from the EU and the USA is that Kosovo takes a step in that direction".
"A slightly more difficult question is whether you can have new elections. From the Serbian side, it was clearly stated that the formation of the ZSO is important, which is still a problem for Kurti. Because everyone else understands that it is necessary," added the American ambassador in Belgrade.
Hill said that the US is counting on Vučić as a good partner.
"We count on him as a good partner, he and his government are good partners in this process. And we hope it will continue that way. We would like him to do what he can to de-escalate the situation and we see that it is already being implemented. It's very positive," Hill said.
According to him, there is an understanding with the authorities in Serbia on how to move forward, to do things together.
"I hope that the people of Serbia will also understand that we want to cooperate much more politically, economically, in the field of security... We are very interested in improving relations with Serbia, at least as much as the people and the government in Serbia are interested in it. We feel that Serbia is becoming a better and better partner for us," Hill added.
When asked if the West supports "stabilocracy" and turns a blind eye to various violations of freedoms in Serbia, Hill answered:
"I don't think that's true. When we look at Kosovo, we do not see the relations between Belgrade and Pristina as the most important in the world, but we look at how to create circumstances in which Serbia can progress and become a full partner in the Euro-Atlantic structures. And then we see the Kosovo problem as something that slows it down. Serbia will have many partners in the future, there are already some in the region, and it will probably have Kosovo and Albania as partners in the future. I think there are many people in the EU who want to see Serbia as a member, although many here do not think so. They want Serbia, but not its problems. If you are a member of the club, you want the members, but not their problems", explained the ambassador.
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