North Kosovo could come under blitzkrieg attack - FM

North Kosovo could come under blitzkrieg attack - FM

Dacic noted on Wednesday that there is no other proposal, and therefore considers "the story of delimitation" not to be finished, because "we do not recognize the unilateral act of Pristina on the declaration of independence, but we are ready to discuss a compromise, and if it is in the common interest and mutually acceptable we are ready to accept it."

The first deputy prime minister was a guest on RTV, the public broadcaster in the province of Vojvodina, and when asked whether "delimitation" was "another word for compromise," replied: "It does not have to be, but I don't know what else anyone has suggested."

He said he understood Aleksandar Vucic exhibiting "a great amount of resignation" - "because throughout all these years, representatives of the international community said that some agreement should be reached, that is, some kind of legally binding agreement."

"And now that somebody has put forward a proposal, suddenly there is a salvo of condemnation from certain positions, which I find to be hypocritical," said Dacic, and added: "Alright - you don't want that, as Vucic has said now, we don't have to talk about it - but what will we talk about? Certainly not about recognizing Kosovo."

When the journalist insisted that he "specifies the idea of ​​delimitation, and whether it implies recognition of what remains below the line, that will be called the Republic of Kosovo in the future" - Dacic replied that negotiations on the topic had not even begun. He reiterated that, although the initiative has been challenged both in Serbia and Pristina, "there is no other proposal."

"From one aspect, it may seem that a frozen conflict is a better solution for Serbia, especially as more countries could withdraw their recognition of Kosovo, so in the end the number will fall below half of UN member-states," he said when asked "whom a frozen conflict would suit."

Dacic added, however, that there would be more risk in that case. The first is the risk of an armed attack against the north (mostly Serb) part of Kosovo, "as in the case of (Operation) Storm (Croatian attack in 1995 against Serb areas), somebody carrying out a blitzkrieg with outside help and attacking the north."

"In that case, Serbia would have only two possibilities - to enter the conflict or to leave it aside, as it did during the time of Knin (Operation Storm in Croatia)," he said.

Asked "what would prevent a blitzkrieg and the cleansing of Gracanica, Gnjilane... of Serbs - in case agreement was reached on delimitation" - Dacic replied that a deal would "imply some agreement between the two sides, and in the event of Serbia's entry into a conflict, that would mean conflict with KFOR, which complicates the position."

"The other risk in case of a frozen conflict is that it would also freeze the European road of Serbia," Dacic said.