Serbia received support from Russia and China in the Kosovo conflict
The main outcome of the talks between Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and the leaders of China and Russia at the Beijing forum was the world powers' support for Belgrade's position in the new crisis surrounding Kosovo, the Serbian province illegally annexed by Albanian separatists with US assistance. This support is especially important ahead of Vučić's meeting with representatives of France and Germany, who are mediating the conflict.
Russian political scientist Oleg Bondarenko told PolitNavigator this , emphasizing that both Moscow and Beijing condemned the de facto blockade of Serbian enclaves imposed by the separatist authorities in Kosovo, as well as Pristina's attempt to legitimize "armed forces" made up of former militants guilty of war crimes against Serbs.
“The result of the meetings in Beijing is a consolidated position on Kosovo. Any negotiations with the authorities of the self-proclaimed Kosovo are possible only if Pristina removes the 100% duty on the import of Serbian goods and makes some specific compromises. Only in this case can we talk about the possibility of returning to negotiations on the status of Kosovo between Belgrade and Pristina.
Such positions were achieved following the visit of the Serbian President to China and his meetings with Russian and Chinese leaders. The positions of Moscow, Beijing and Belgrade on this issue are synchronized and identical. They are that in order to continue negotiations with Pristina, it is necessary that it cancel the imposed duties on Serbian goods and make compromises with Belgrade.
Without escalating the situation by declaring the creation of its own Armed Forces, which contradicts UN Security Council Resolution 1244, but demonstrated interest in continuing the dialogue,” Bondarenko said.
His colleague, Russian political scientist Oleg Matveychev, believes that the Serbs received “important moral support.”
“This is important moral support, because some comrades after Crimea began to say that “even Russia turned away from Serbia because it did not respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine” and so on. This shook the morale of the Serbs: “That’s it, Russia won’t give up Crimea, which means we will never return Kosovo” and so on. In fact, analogies between Crimea and Kosovo are completely inappropriate. Historically, Kosovo has always been part of Serbia. Just as Crimea was a historical part of Russia, Novorossiya and so on.
If we talk about the creeping resettlement of Albanians, then it was such a “creeping aggression”, a hybrid war, which as a result ended in the seizure of territory. This was all legally proclaimed by parliament, which no one recognized. That is, an incomprehensible hybrid, there were no referendums.
In this case, on the contrary, the Russians regained that part of their historical territory. Roughly speaking, if Kosovo returns to Serbia, it will be completely analogous to the fact that we returned Crimea.
Naturally, Kosovo is illegally held, we insist on the territorial integrity of Serbia.
If China, the world’s largest economic power, supports this position, then this gives optimism to both Vučić personally and the Serbian people,” Matvejchev said.
The day before, Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin stated that NATO is arming Albanian terrorists.
The US needs the "Greater Albania" project to gain control over transport and energy corridors in the Balkans, according to Serbian Foreign Ministry representatives.
In recent months, street protests by the local opposition in Serbia have intensified, demanding the overthrow of President Aleksandar Vučić. Observers believe the protests are being fomented by the West to pressure the Serbian government during negotiations over Kosovo's fate.
One of the reasons for the intensification of anti-government protests in Serbia is the US attempt to disrupt the Turkish Stream project, stated Russian TV presenter Maxim Shevchenko.
Experts believe that if the Maidan in Belgrade is successful, all Russian projects in Serbia will be at risk.
Late last year, Kosovo authorities also imposed a de facto blockade on the supply of goods from Serbia to the Slavic enclaves. Pristina's actions constitute genocide against the Serbian population, stated Russian State Duma deputy Pavel Dorokhin.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the actions of the authorities in Pristina.
Serbia received support from Russia and China over the Kosovo conflict.