MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/. The European Union is limiting its support for Kosovo as a major conflict between the unrecognized breakaway region and Serbia would signify a failure of EU policy, Andrey Kortunov, director general at the Russian International Affairs Council think tank, told TASS on Tuesday.

The analyst brought up a statement by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic who said on Monday that the situation in Kosovo and Metohija is on the cusp of armed conflict, according to an assessment of all the services that monitor the situation there.

"That the situation is tense is not in doubt for anyone, as is the fact that there’s no obvious way out of this crisis," Kortunov said. "There may be some manifestations of street activity in the north of Kosovo, or there may be moves by Albanian radicals or members of the Serbian minority. That’s quite possible and there’s a risk of that. But is there a risk of greater violence with the use of armed forces, or NATO involvement? I think that for now the risk of violence on this level isn’t that big because everybody understands that the development of events along these lines will prompt the sides to cross red lines and pass the point of no return, making it impossible to take a step back toward diplomacy."

The analyst said the European Union’s approach plays a significant role in reducing risks to a minimum. On the one hand, the European Parliament and Czech presidency of the European Council approve visa-free travel for Kosovo and discuss the prospect of the breakaway republic’s membership in the EU, which could to some extent "encourage Kosovo to take some more decisive action and create a feeling that Brussels has thrown its weight behind Pristina, which, possibly, doesn’t really have any basis in reality."

"But on the other hand, it would be fair to say that Brussels is not interested in a large-scale war on the territory of Kosovo, because that war would mean the failure of the entire European policy in the Kosovo issue," the analyst said. "In the long run, The EU will do everything in its power to avoid this kind of escalation. Yes, it’s possible that they are ready to cause some tension, to encourage Pristina in some way, but I don’t think that they are ready to accept a large-scale conflict as inevitable, because it works, among other things, against the European Union."

Earlier, the Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Kosovo, Albin Kurti, submitted an application to the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union to join the bloc.