Vucic: The essence is to force us to recognize Kosovo, difficult weeks and months ahead

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic stated today that difficult weeks and months were ahead for the country because the key goal of the international community was to compel Serbia, in one way or another, by inserting it into a certain legal framework, to recognize the independence of Kosovo, to which he repeated he would not agree.

"We will be under much more pressure; they will use and abuse the situation, as Serbia has something to lose. That's why they put the Albanians under sanctions, which are not that serious, actually blackmailing Serbia, because we have something to lose", Vucic told reporters at the Palace of Serbia.

Therefore, he says, many difficult things, difficult days, weeks, and months lie ahead for Serbia because attempts will be made to resolve many things in Kosovo before the elections in the United States and the EU.

"It won't be easy, but it is our job to fight and do everything we can to protect the country at every place and moment", Vucic said.

Responding to the statement that the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army, General Milan Mojsilovic, would talk to the KFOR Commander about security in Kosovo tomorrow, Vucic said he did not think the discussion topic would be anything more than that because there was nothing else to talk about.

He pointed out that Serbia had been facing not only double standards but also blatantly hypocritical behavior all along.

"KFOR and NATO rightfully invoke Resolution 1244, and they derive their mandate from that document. But when you ask them about other norms from that same resolution, they tell us – don't look into the past, look into the future", he noted.

According to him, we, being insufficiently significant, have to get used to that.

"And within the limits of what is possible, we will fight for the people and the country. There will be many important discussions, each one is important to us, but fundamentally their goal is to force us, in one way or another, into a legal framework, to make us acknowledge the independence of Kosovo", the President of Serbia pointed out.

He explained that the crucial issues were not the elections in the north, the voting in the elections in Serbia, nor the documents, sheets... but only recognition.

"All of these are problems, but they are not essential. Nothing is crucial among them. The crucial thing is whether we will let them join the United Nations", Vucic said and stated:

"No, we won't".

However, he added that it was always easier to say, but everyone should know that it carried certain consequences.

"The threats for months have not been in vain... It will just continue, and every day they will say that sanctions have been imposed on Kosovo, and they will demand that they be imposed on Serbia as well... When we ask why, they say – because of Banjska. But for the investigation into the attempted murder of Dragisa Galjak, Jovanovic, punishment for the attempted murder of Serbian boys in Strpce, there is no answer. They say it's our nitpicking...," the President of Serbia said.

On the question of whether he would sign anything, he replied that he did not want to behave like a nitpicker, nor gain political points in the election campaign.

"No, I won't sign. I've said it a thousand times, in the toughest places. To Macron, Scholz, Borrell, Lajcak... But the problem is not what I will say; we shouldn't reduce politics to slogans, but explain that there is little we can do, that we need to pay attention to nuances...," Vucic said.

He repeats that we are not entering an easy period, which is why it is necessary to preserve peace and stability and to think about the future.

He also pointed out that Serbia had a very small maneuvering space.

"And no one says that we are wrong about Resolution 1244, the UN Charter... No one is stupid; they all know it, but might is right. They can do anything, and they don't care...," Vucic said.

He gave the example that the Pristina side did not want the families of the missing from both sides to come because they said they didn't need them.

"Well, presumably, that's why we are doing it... Just tell us openly that you are not interested in the missing, that the families don't matter to Pristina... There's no more playing with gloves on; no one is playing with anyone here... We know what they want; they know what we want, and there's not much secrecy and philosophy in it," Vucic said and concluded:

"They are waiting for the moment to press us to the end, and we are waiting for the moment to reject the pressure".