Djuric: Due to its behavior, Pristina lost the carte blanche to the USA and the international community

Serbian Ambassador to the USA Marko Djuric says that with yesterday's agreement we went a step further in terms of legal protection of the position of Serbs in the north of Kosovo, as well as that Pristina has lost the carte blanche to the USA and the international community due to its behavior, RTS reports.

Djuric states that we must rationally and with cool head take stock of what happened in the previous 20 days.

"If we do that, we will see that the barricades of peace, as I call them, in a dignified, peaceful and decisive way, with strong support and cooperation with the Serbian state authorities, resulted in the fact that today we have two freed Serbian prisoners," Djuric says.

He points out that when you see the tears and joy of the mother of Dejan Pantic, who arrived home last night, it was really worth the efforts of not only the team in Belgrade, but also the people who were at the barricades for 20 days and nights.

"I invite the citizens of Serbia to familiarize themselves with the other two elements of the talks that were held and the agreement that was reached, which was materialized through the joint statement of the EU and the USA on the one hand and the statement of KFOR on the other," says Djuric.

He adds that today we have on the table two new sources of material law and political reality in the north of Kosovo.

"This means that as of yesterday, for the first time, we have international guarantees from KFOR and NATO that apply to everyone related to the sending of Kosovo security forces to the north, with the obligation to consult the Serbian community," Djuric adds.

He states that until now this obligation existed only in a letter between the then Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and the then General Secretary Rasmussen.

"Those who know the law understand that we have now gone one step further in terms of legal protection of the position of the Serbs in the north," Djuric emphasizes.

What are the guarantees that this political agreement will be respected?

When asked what are the guarantees that this political agreement will be respected, if the agreements signed so far are already being violated, Djuric says that the guarantees are the determination and resolution of the Serbs who protected their rights with barricades of peace for 20 days.

"If we are going to be completely honest, the unshakable determination and resolution of the state leadership, led by the president, to stand behind these people at all costs," said Djuric.

He says that the results of these talks can be measured by the reactions in Pristina.

"You will see that even the regime of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accuses the court of its own institutions of high treason due to the fact that Pantic was released from custody. So it will not be that it has absolutely no influence and effect, if everything is so favorable and good they would not call in Pristina for to the protests in front of the KFOR barracks," says Djuric.

He adds, we have just received guarantees on paper from both the EU and the USA that the people who participate in the peace barricades will not be prosecuted and that there will be no further arrests.

"Of course, we have no illusions when it comes to Kurti and his behavioral patterns, and I think it is very important that people understand the context of things and the circumstances of what Kurti is actually trying to do," Djuric states.

Djuric adds that Kurti has been trying to abuse the tragedy in Ukraine since February and the unfortunate war in Ukraine by pushing Serbia into a conflict with Western humanity and Western civilization.

"That's why we have to conduct our politics with a cool head, cunningly, thoughtfully and wisely, exactly the way we are, on the one hand, with patience and Gandhian methods, peaceful protest, on the other hand, with skillful diplomacy, to fight for it and move our position step by step in advance," he adds.

It indicates that for the first time in the last few years we had heavy and tiring protests by our people in the north, but that we came out of them by moving the scale in our favor.

"We can say that Kurti's unilateral actions did not bear fruit, he has no more today than he had before the beginning of the peace barricades, and the Serbs still got the release of some of the prisoners, I call them that because they were practically hostages of that fake state, and on the other hand, we also received written guarantees that we did not have regarding the presence of Kosovo security forces, and we received an official statement from the EU and the US that there will be no further arrests," Djuric explains.

"Washington had a correct role in these talks"

Speaking about whether Washington was the main mediator of the talks, Djuric says that he played a correct role in these talks, and that he is not saying this just because it is in the Serbian national interest to improve relations with the USA.

"Already because I saw in practice that Pristina lost the carte blanche to the USA and the international community for its behavior," Djuric adds.

When asked who participated in the talks from the American side, he says that he immediately contacted the US special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, as well as the US ambassador in Belgrade, Christopher Hill, and that they were also in contact with the US representative in Pristina by Jeffrey Hovenier.

"But we normally have high-quality communication, President Vucic had an extraordinary contact in New York with Jake Sullivan, who is the national security advisor of the USA", Djuric emphasizes.

He also said that in the second week of January we expected a visit by a high American delegation.

"Of course, they look at Kosovo and Metohija as an independent state, which is the complete opposite of everything we believe in and everything we are fighting for, but at the same time, it is my deep conviction that they do not support Kurti's efforts to destabilize Southeast Europe by trying to misuses the tragedy in Ukraine to achieve his political goals," Djuric says.

He concludes that although our views on Kosovo's independence are completely different from the USA's, we strive to preserve peace and stability and we can have a partner in them.