West plans to accuse Serbia of disrupting dialogue with Kosovo — Russian ambassador

World August 14, 2019, 2:09

Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alaxander Botsan-Kharchenko said that "prerequisites are being created to once again accuse Belgrade of disrupting negotiations"

BELGRADE, August 13. /TASS/. The address of the Quinta Group (United States, United Kingdon, France, Germany, Iraly) to Belgrade and Pristina with a proposal to restore dialogue represents an attempt to accuse Serbia of disrupting talks on normalizing relations, Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alaxander Botsan-Kharchenko said on Tuesday.

"We have not seen anything new or promising in the statement of the so-called Quinta Group," Botsan-Kharchenko wrote on his official Twitter account. "Dialgoue can only be restored through active work with Pristina, exerting pressure on Pristina with the aim of lifting customs duties and not allowing demonstrations of force. In our opinion, prerequisites are being created to once again accuse Belgrade of disrupting negotiations," he added.

Serbia's campaign for revoking the recognition of Kosovo's independence has nothing to do with restoring dialogue and represents "a sovereign matter of other countries that recognize the insolvency of Kosovo's pseudo-statehood and its inconsistency with international law," the ambassador noted.

The diplomat reminded that the Quinta Group's statement also mentions Euro-Atlantic integration. "The Quinta Group is once again ignoring Serbia's position on military-political neutrality," he stressed.

Earlier on Tuesday, the embassies of the Quinta Group countries in unrecognized Kosovo called on Pristina to lift its 100% customs duties on Serbian goods, and on Belgrade - to stop the campaign for revoking international recognition of Kosovo's independence.

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