(ANSA-AP) - BELGRADE, APRIL 17 - Serbia on Wednesday sought
to secure a greater Russian role in European Union-mediated
talks with the former province of Kosovo, which could further
strain the Balkan country's relations with the West.
Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said after meeting his
Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Moscow that "Serbia
cannot defend its state interests without the assistance of the
Russian Federation." Dacic also said Serbia "would not do
anything without consulting Russia," adding that "Russia is our
biggest friend."
The EU-sponsored talks on normalizing ties have been stalled
over the Kosovo government's 100% tariff on goods imported from
Serbia, which Belgrade wants lifted before resuming
negotiations. While Serbia and Russia don't recognize Kosovo's
2008 declaration of independence, the U.S. and most of the West
do. Serbia lost control over Kosovo after NATO intervened in
1999 to stop Belgrade's bloody crackdown against Kosovo Albanian
civilians and separatists.
Although it formally seeks EU membership, Serbia has
gradually been shifting toward Russia, which has lost most of
its allies in the Balkans. Serbia has been seeking the partition
of Kosovo, hoping to take over parts of the state which are
inhabited by the Serb minority. That has been rejected by
Pristina and many Western countries, which fear it could have a
domino effect on other borders in the region that saw wars in
the 1990s.
Russia has repeatedly said it would accept any negotiated
solution that is approved by Serbia, and indicated it would veto
anything else at the U.N. Security Council. "As for pressure on
Serbia and demands to recognize Kosovo's independence, the
pressure will surely continue, primarily on the part of the
U.S., because the current administration is obsessed with
achieving as much foreign policy success as possible in the
short time until the next election," Lavrov said Wednesday,
according to the Russian TASS news agency. (ANSA-AP).
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