Western European powers backed by the US and Turkey are trying to railroad Serbia into signing an agreement with the breakaway province of Kosovo as soon as possible, the country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, has claimed. The West is eager to end the conflict between Belgrade and Pristina so it can focus on Ukraine, he added.

In a televised address to the nation on Saturday, Vucic said Serbia had been urged to settle its differences with partially recognized Kosovo by EU’s special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, as well as the envoys of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.

According to the Serbian head of state, the representatives of the EU and two European powerhouses made it clear that “they have the support of the USA and Turkey.” The Western powers argue that, with an ongoing military conflict in Ukraine, they would like to minimize the possibility of another one breaking out in Europe, Vucic said.

He explained that the agreement proposed by Brussels, Berlin and Paris would mean that Serbia would have to recognize “everything that they think is reality.”

The Western envoys also allegedly told the Serbian president that Belgrade should clarify its position on the current confrontation between the West and Russia.

Vucic concluded that Serbia had “again become the collateral damage in the conflicts of the great [powers].”

He predicted that there would be more attempts at persuasion and pressure to force Serbia to accept the proposed accord in the coming weeks.

The Serbian president went on to say that, with Western powers championing Ukraine’s territorial integrity, it would be interesting to see how they would react if he used the same argument at the upcoming UN General Assembly with respect to Kosovo.

Vucic also made it clear that Belgrade would not budge on this key issue and “will fight for respect for international law.”

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