Milivojevic: Kurti opted for force and repression; he makes it clear that he will not give up

Former diplomat Zoran Milivojevic believes that the parliamentarians' letter demanding a change of policy towards Belgrade is an attempt to help Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti and to use the discrediting to put Serbia's guilt in the foreground.

In an interview with Blic, Milivojevic stated that it was interesting who the signatories of that letter were.

Regarding the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Milivojevic points out that there is a tendency to treat both sides the same, although, as he states, they are not.

He added that Kurti was not giving up on his politics.

Brussels, London, and Washington received a letter from parliamentarians from EU countries and the USA demanding a change in policy towards Belgrade. The President says that it is directed against Serbia. How should we interpret this letter and what reaction should we expect?

When it comes to that letter, three things are interesting: who are the signatories, what the content and context is. So, when it comes to the signatories, I single out the first signatory, Alicia Kearns, the President of the Foreign Policy Committee of the British lower house - the House of Lords, and the fact that more than a quarter of the signatories are from the British Parliament. There is Bob Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Policy Committee, who a month and a half ago, two months ago, had a testimony in the Senate on his own initiative with messages against Serbia. And we have Michael Roth, chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the German Bundestag. Those three people represent a kind of Albanian lobby. Another thing is the content of the letter, it talks about some illegal importation of weapons, about Serbian guilt in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, about the criminal Serbian factor, so some theses that do not exist. And the context is an attempt to help Kurti and to use the discrediting of Serbia to put Serbia's guilt in the foreground.

EU spokesperson Peter Stano says that measures against the Government of Kosovo were introduced a month ago and that they could also be introduced against Serbia if all members agree that Belgrade does nothing to calm tensions. What does it mean, is it the balanced approach of Brussels?

There is an effort to treat the two sides equally even though they are neither politically nor legally nor fundamentally equal, that is completely clear. Serbia is a country, but Kosovo is not a country. It is a dialogue about normalization, creating conditions for peace and stability, but also an attempt to equalize the two sides. This is a confirmation of the strategic goal pursued by Pristina and the Western power centers, which is to confirm Kosovo's statehood.

All summer in the north of Kosovo, the Serbs are arrested and accused of war crimes committed in 1998 and 1999 in Kosovo and Metohija. Is it a continuation of intimidation?

It is obvious that Kurti is not giving up on his politics. In the second year of his mandate, he opted for force, repression, and the imposition of a political solution by force. The problem is that he has support, so obviously, it fits somewhere else with someone, and he makes it clear that he will not give it up. It raises the level of the existing escalation and creates objective conditions for the spread of the conflict, conditions for a much worse situation, not only for the Serbs but for the region as a whole. The important message is that we should not expect Serbia to change its attitude. Serbia will not renounce all state and national interests, nor support for the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, in accordance with international law and Resolution 1244.