Vucic: No Talks with Kurti until Release of Arrested Kosovo Serbs

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic - meeting of national security (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

On June 18 Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic dismissed the possibility of talks with Kosovo Premier Albin Kurti until Serbs arrested in northern Kosovo were released.

Vucic told a news conference that he would decide whether Belgrade would take part in technical talks 24 hours in advance and that the public would be informed. He said the talks were pointless, adding that bans on imports from Serbia had to be lifted, too.

He also reiterated that the Serbian police and military had not crossed the administrative line, not even in the recent arrest of three Kosovo police officers in Serbia proper, stressing that the officers had not been mistreated as evidenced by them "not having a single bruise on them," and that they had been drinking Coke and eating cake in jail.

Vucic ran off a list of criticisms against EULEX and ethnic Albanian officials in Kosovo, calling them "liars" and "riffraff," adding that, in his opinion, only KFOR, NATO and KFOR commander Angelo Michele Ristuccia, whom he described "as a difficult but fair man", were being fair.