Graovac: It is essential to include Russia in negotiations on Ukraine, but also in resolving the Kosovo issue

Involvement of Russia in negotiations on Ukraine is essential, but so is its involvement in resolving the Kosovo status, Srdjan Graovac from the Center for Social Stability says for Kosovo Online, adding that any solution without Russia and China "will not be a long-term solution."

As he points out, it is clear to everyone that without Russia's participation, the conflict in Ukraine cannot be resolved.

"It seems to me that those who insisted on this Summit in Switzerland primarily insisted on mobilizing the widest possible circle of countries at the international level to strengthen support for Ukraine and isolate Russia as much as possible – that was the key goal, and this Summit has shown that it essentially did not succeed. And if someone seriously thinks about negotiating a peace solution for Ukraine, then it is necessary to include Russia in all of this. This is now more than clear," Graovac believes.

Moreover, he adds that it is fundamentally necessary to include Russia or China in resolving the status of Kosovo.

"Any solution without Russia and China will not be a long-term solution, even if Western countries impose a solution that is to their liking. That solution will simply never gain international support or international verification because we know that only the verification by the UN Security Council ensures some form of permanence and foundation for making a certain decision. Without the UN Security Council, it will only be an imposed solution by part of the political West or part of the international community," our interlocutor assesses.

He recalls that resolving the Kosovo issue essentially depends on the will of the great powers.

"Because if the US and the Western world agreed with Russia and China – however they agree, that is how the issue would ultimately be resolved because that would be an agreement of the international community and the countries of the international community. If they cannot reach that consensus, the issue will essentially remain a frozen conflict until that consensus of the great powers is reached," Graovac emphasizes.

He adds that when and whether that consensus will be reached will be revealed over time.

"At this moment, the relations among the great powers are so strained that it is hard to even imagine the possibility of reaching an agreement. But at the moment when the great powers start discussing the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis and some other crises, when this entire crisis that has shaken international relations is being resolved, then it will be possible to somehow open the issue of resolving Kosovo and Metohija at the broadest international level where all the great powers will be involved," he states.

In his opinion, this can only be "packaged" into the principle of establishing a new world order because, he adds, it is clear that the current world order is collapsing.

"After all, all these crises that are happening are also consequences of the collapse of the world order. Consequently, when a new world order begins to rise, then we will have a clearer picture of what the Balkans will look like," Graovac concludes.