Vucic Expecting much Pressure and Threats in Kosovo

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Aug. 29 said that “the months will not be easy,” because he was expecting “much pressure, many threats and their realization in Kosovo by those who do not understand that peace is in the interest of both, the Serbs and the Albanians.”

While touring works on the bridge in the town of Petrovac na Mlavi, Vucic said that if the opposition unequivocally requested snap elections, they would be organized sooner than they would expect, adding that the opposition would lose. Vucic did not specify which type of elections he had in mind.

Asked why the contract for the bridge reconstruction had been awarded without a tender procedure and to a company with no previous experience with bridge works, Vucic replied he did not know which company had been performing the works and denied the claims that the contract had been awarded without a tender and with the aim of collecting funds for election campaign.

“State road maintenance company Putevi Srbije have applied their own pricelist, insisting on fast execution. Everything has to be in compliance with procedures, but it is more important that people are happy and that they use the bridge,” Vucic said. He also said that the female reporter who asked this question worked for a media outlet whose owners “have been stashing money in their pockets all their lives.”

Vucic dismissed as ridiculous the media reports that he had gone to report to the Russian ambassador in Serbia, noting that this claim had been made by those who had been going to report to diplomats of some other countries. “On other hand, it is more important that those people and their media outlets have no policy…those are the people who advocate sanctions against Russia...who want us to conduct a hostile policy towards Russia,” Vucic stressed.