BELGRADE, February 1. /TASS/. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has received Russian Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko amid the recent move by the Kosovo authorities to abandon the dinar, Serbia’s national currency, a TASS correspondent reported from the president’s palace.

The Serbian leader received the Russian diplomat against the background of Pristina’s newly minted decision to enter a "transition period" in the territory of unrecognized Kosovo starting on February 1, which involves abandoning the use of the Serbian dinar and switching to the euro. The day before, the head of state also received the US, UK, French, Italian and German ambassadors, after talks with whom Vucic refused to speak to the press and refrained from making any comments.

"I briefed Ambassador Botsan-Kharchenko on Pristina's latest unilateral move clearly directed against the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as on the possible consequences of this irresponsible act of the [Prime Minister of unrecognized Kosovo Albin] Kurti regime. We also discussed Serbian-Russian bilateral relations and cooperation and other regional and international issues of mutual interest," Vucic wrote on Instagram (banned in Russia due to its ownership by designated extremist Meta) following the meeting. "I once again expressed gratitude to Russia for its support in maintaining Serbia's territorial integrity," Vucic concluded.

Earlier, the US embassy in unrecognized Kosovo issued a joint statement by the United States, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom calling on Pristina to suspend the euro changeover procedure, which ultimately involves a ban on the use of the Serbian dinar.

The deputy prime minister of unrecognized Kosovo, Besnik Bislimi, said on Wednesday that the move to switch to the euro begins on February 1, adding that Serbian citizens living in Kosovo will not be subject to any sanctions for refusing to switch from dinars to euros as long as the indefinite transition period continues.

On January 29, following a meeting with EU Special Representative for the Western Balkans Miroslav Lajcak, Vucic announced that he had called on the EU to take measures against the Kosovo authorities to prevent further provocations by Pristina.