b92.net

Montgomery: "The irony is that we defend Ukraine, and Kosovo is taken by force"

6-7 minutes

---

Former U.S. Ambassador William Montgomery said that Western diplomatic efforts in the Belgrade - Pristina dialogue essentially work in "squaring the circle".

Source: Kosovo online Thursday, October 20, 2022 | 14:14

Foto: EPA-EFE/Dejan_Tasic

The reason for this is that Prime Minister of the so-called Kosovo, Albin Kurti, insists that Serbia recognize Kosovo and Metohija within the current borders and that it be admitted to the UN, but Serbia will not do that, reports "Kosovo Online".

Montgomery said that he does not have any information about what is being discussed during the current visits of foreign diplomats and in the dialogue, but that based on personal experience of many years on the matter, he can say that most of what has been done so far is an attempt to solve each individual issue in order to avoid the escalation of conflicts.

"The problem created by the EU is chapter 35 in the negotiations with Serbia, which deals with Kosovo, and it should have been the last chapter to be opened after everything else was closed. That EU membership is guaranteed when the Kosovo issue is resolved. That would put real pressure on Serbia. There is no pressure now, as Serbia's EU membership is far away for many reasons, many of which have nothing to do with Serbia – namely, most EU countries do not want further expansion," Montgomery explains.

When it comes to Kosovo's Prime Minister, Montgomery points out, it is important to recognize that Kurti does not care at all about the economic well-being of his territory, because he is fixated on Serbia, both for political and personal reasons.

According to him, Kurti is basing everything on obtaining a "vital Serbian concession", and Western diplomats are putting a lot of pressure on Serbia to do so.

"Serbia, on the other hand, has no real reason to comply. It has a growing economy and many other issues that need to be dealt with. And the EU has nothing concrete to offer Serbia for this concession at the moment," the former ambassador said.

Montgomery also referred to the situation in Ukraine and the similarity with Kosovo.

"I could add that it is ironic that Kosovo was taken by force and against Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council, and with the support of the West. Nevertheless, we are now defending Ukraine because Russia is trying to do the same in Ukraine. The West justified the bombing campaign of Serbia because of the mistreatment of Kosovo's Albanians. The Russians justify their action in Ukraine because of the mistreatment of ethnic Russians there. So, ironically, the Russians are using our own actions against us," Montgomery concluded.