Surlic: Kurti has no intention of ever forming the CSM per the Brussels Agreement

Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Political Sciences, Stefan Surlic, said today that he believed that the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, had no sincere intention to ever form the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities in accordance with the Brussels Agreement and that he would use every possible argument to delay its establishment, as reported by Blic.

Surlic said for Tanjug that Kurti was buying time in order to satisfy the attention and demands of European and American officials and to prove himself as a constructive actor in the dialogue with Belgrade.

According to his words, it is obvious how much Serbia, in a diplomatic sense, is suffering because it does not impose sanctions on Russia, and it is expected that this voice for Russia will be more constructive, knowing Serbia's strength and capacities, and what it is facing.

Russia's interest in not reaching an agreement between Belgrade and Pristina

As he said, Serbia certainly cannot be "on the warpath" in a conflict with European and American officials, but the only way for Belgrade is to talk and agree in a compromise environment and to understand it as a long-term process of a permanent agreement with the West in order to protect some basic national and state interests.

"At this moment, Russia's geopolitical interest is not to reach an agreement between Belgrade and Pristina because it is clear that, if that agreement is reached, those who initiated it, primarily the Germans, French, and Americans, want to unblock Kosovo on the international level, and above all to ensure NATO membership for Kosovo. A larger number of NATO members in the context of the open conflict that exists between Russia and NATO is not suitable, so it is quite legitimate that Russia has its separate global interests and that in that context, Kosovo's membership in NATO is not in Russia's interest," Surlic said.

If the CSM in accordance with the Brussels Agreement is applied, it would lead to a de-escalation on the ground, Surlic says, allowing the Serbs to finally have the rights that are guaranteed to them, and would open up space for Belgrade and Pristina to discuss the final agreement, as well as how to arrange relations in political, economic and any other sense.