Serbian General Says EU-Backed Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue Mere 'Deception'

Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina under the auspices of the European Union in Brussels is a trick, as the Kosovo Albanian leaders are not capable of constructive negotiations, Serbian Col. Gen. Vladimir Lazarevic told Sputnik in an interview

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2019) Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina under the auspices of the European Union in Brussels is a trick, as the Kosovo Albanian leaders are not capable of constructive negotiations, Serbian Col. Gen. Vladimir Lazarevic told Sputnik in an interview.

In the late 1990s, the US-led NATO supported the efforts of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian militia, to secede from Yugoslavia, which then consisted of Serbia and Montenegro. Following violent clashes between the KLA and Serbian forces, NATO bombed Yugoslavia in 1999, although the intervention had not been approved by the UN Security Council. Lazarevic commanded the Pristina corps of the Yugoslavian Army. In 2003, he was accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for war crimes against Kosovo Albanians during the Kosovo War. Lazarevic spent ten years in jail and was released in 2015.

"For me, everything that is happening around Kosovo and Metohija on the side of the talks between Belgrade and Pristina is just a trick. It is impossible to agree with the criminals who killed their own compatriots, who are now feeling uncomfortable about that they did not kill even more Serbs in that war," Lazarevic said, adding that the dialogue was an international fraud.

Pristina unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008. The self-proclaimed republic is recognized by over 100 UN member states. Serbia, as well as Russia, China, Israel, Iran, Spain, Greece and a number of other countries have not recognized Kosovo's independence.

In 2011, Serbia under the pressure of Brussels started negotiations on the normalization of relations with Kosovo Albanians with the mediation of the European Union. The dialogue is currently suspended.