March 18 () –
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has warned late this past Friday that the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, will hinder the high-level talks scheduled for this Saturday in Ohrid (North Macedonia) to normalize relations with Kosovo.
“Serbia’s position in Ohrid will be more difficult tomorrow, because we will have to think about every little step that we are going to take in the future,” said Vucic, very close to the Russian president and a critic of the sanctions against Moscow for the war in Ukraine. during a rally in Srem. “It seems absolutely clear to me that the world is descending into a spiral of acceleration of the conflict in Ukraine,” added the Serbian president in comments collected by Tanjug.
The meeting, led by Vucic and the Kosovar Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, will focus on the finalization of the Annex on the implementation of the EU Agreement on the path towards normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, all under the auspices of Brussels , mainly represented by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell.
Belgrade and Pristina have been negotiating in Brussels for decades with few results and a poor record of implementing the agreements already reached. European sources acknowledged last month to Europa Press that the agreement to implement the community of municipalities with a Serb majority, a special political status for northern Kosovo, is “difficult” but they stress that it is a long-term commitment that is necessary achieve.
However, and despite the good expectations placed by the European Union and the US State Department, the Serbian president, who is already in the Macedonian city, has anticipated that in principle there will be no relevant progress during the meeting. “I have no intention of signing anything,” he said.
The ICC on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Putin on suspicion of a war crime for the forced deportation of Ukrainian children from Ukrainian war-captured areas to Russian territory. Russia has completely ignored the decision, as it does not recognize the court as the competent judicial body over its affairs since it withdrew in 2016 from the Rome Statute.
