Starovic: The ball is in Pristina's court, it must implement what it signed

State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense, Nemanja Starovic, says that Pristina is not ready to meet the necessary prerequisite in order to be able to talk about some kind of path toward a new framework agreement, which is the formation of the CSM, RTS reports.

He stated in the Morning Program on RTS that there would be no capitulation, despite the difficult circumstances and pressures, and that Serbia and its president would not cross the two red lines.

"One is the issue of the so-called mutual recognition, which is a meaningless platitude, which means the desired obligation of Serbia to agree to the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo and Metohija, and the other red line is the desired agreement of Serbia to Pristina's membership in the UN," Starovic said.

He points out that yesterday Vucic sent important messages to the citizens regarding the geopolitical circumstances, bearing in mind the environment in which Serbia is located, which is significantly different from ten years ago.

Speaking about the visit of the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak to Pristina, Starovic says that Lajcak's position must be understood, which implies the kind of need to broadcast official optimism in the function of his work.

"There has been no key progress, Pristina is not ready to fulfill the necessary precondition for us to be able to talk about some kind of path towards a new framework agreement, it is about the formation of the CSM", Starovic says.

Yesterday there was a message that Washington wants a quick finalization, but it is not possible to determine a specific time frame.

"The CSM is not the only statement and need that arises from the interests of the Serbian people, but it is an important mechanism for the realization of collective rights. When we talk about all the problems in the field of security, the conditions would be better if the CSM had already been formed," Starovic notes.

He says that in addition to all that, another important dimension is that the issue of the CSM speaks about whether the negotiation process has its own credibility.

"There is misinformation, this phase means that there are discussions about the implementation plan, without determining the implementation plan there is no agreement, the implementation plan can only be agreed upon if the CSM represents the first step. That is Serbia's position," Starovic points out.

According to him, the ball is now in the court of Pristina, which must implement what it signed.

He adds that it would not be good if Serbia made Kurti's job easier by implementing the wrong tactics.

"There is a gradation, at the heart of the problem are fundamental values, the spirit of the people, at a higher level, interests, the preservation of territorial integrity, from this comes strategy, and then moves. Tactics are often mixed with strategy. Serbia persists in the course of the "vis-à-vis" war in Ukraine, which is support for territorial integrity; we don't want to position ourselves as a party in a war conflict," Starovic says.

He emphasizes that Serbia is the only European country that did not join the sanctions, bearing in mind the support of Russia, as a prevention of the resolution in 2015, where, as he states, they would be declared the only genocidal nation.

"Whenever the war ends, the role of Serbia will be needed in order for international relations to return to normal," Starovic adds.

Speaking about the position of Serbs in Kosovo, Starovic says that the lives of Serbs have been difficult since 1999.

"We have an increase in violence directed at Serbs," Starovic emphasizes and repeats that Serbs would be better protected if the CSM had been formed.