Kharchenko: Russia was prevented from doing what is necessary to solve the Kosovo problem

Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko says that before the current Serbian leadership, there had been no real political effort to solve the Kosovo issue, and that it's absolutely true that not enough had been done

Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko says that the meeting between President Vucic and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in New York was very significant.

When it comes to Kosovo, Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko says that before the current Serbian leadership, there had been no real political effort to solve the Kosovo issue, and that it's absolutely true that not enough had been done.

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"Russia was prevented from doing what is necessary in order to solve the problem of Kosovo, but it was looking for the right way to solve it," said Botsan-Kharchenko and warned that the talks about Kosovo that are being conducted today are not talks in the true sense of the word.

"Serbia has been given a choice, you have alternatives, one is a compromise, and the other is, if there is no compromise, independence," Botsan-Kharchenko concluded, warning that this is not the kind of a conversation that should be happening.

Speaking about a phrase that is increasingly referred to, namely, Russia's "soft power in the Balkans," Botsan-Kharchenko explained that solving international problems can't produce results overnight, and that such an approach requires a difficult long-term effort, but that the result is long-lasting and huge - and that in this way two countries and two peoples can become closer.

"I had the opportunity to follow the developments in these region, and I make a conclusion based on what I see, not based on what it is being written. I noticed that the countries of the region are safer and you can tell that people feel safer," Botsan-Kharchenko explained, emphasizing that Russia is better aware of this because it itself has gone through the same problems, Tanjug and Kosovo Online are reporting.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)