Former ambassador: World needs to return to reason, other than Russia and Ukraine, Europe is the biggest loser

Printscreen: RTS TV

Former ambassador of Serbia to Germany and Great Britain Ognjen Pribicevic commented on the situation in Ukraine and told RTS that once the military machine is set off, it is unpredictable what will happen. We are entering a conflict that will also grow into an economic one, which will affect the whole of Europe, and the biggest victim besides Russia and Ukraine in that conflict is Europe, said Pribicevic.

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Pribicevic added that war is being waged in Ukraine and that international law is being violated.

"The problem is that this is not the first violation of international law, it was also violated during the bombing of Belgrade, Syria, Afghanistan," said Pribicevic.

He assessed that this is a chaotic global situation, a conflict between two blocs: Russia and the West. However, this is not an excuse for violating international law.

"Everyone has their own truth, whatever happens cannot be an excuse for violence, all rights were violated also by the (NATO) bombing of Serbia," said Pribicevic and warned that the world should return to reason.

He noted that Russia's attack has the goal of delineating the space where the Russian population lives, Russia can go as far as it wants to, but the question is what happens afterwards, with a weak economy that cannot endure for a long time.

"The world must come to its senses, and that is possible only in the UN. That is very important for us," said the former ambassador.

He stressed that once the military machine is set off, it is unpredictable what will happen.

"Russia wants to delineate the territory where the Russian population lives, Ukraine wants to defend itself, we are entering a conflict that will grow into an economic one, that will affect the whole of Europe," said Pribicevic, assessing the situation as extremely dangerous.

Europe has no alternative to Russian gas

According to him, Europe has no alternative to Russian gas.

"We should point out the role of Emmanuel Macron, who made an effort to avoid the conflict. The biggest victim besides Russia and Ukraine in this conflict is Europe," he noted.

He added that the EU can do very little, they can try to bring the conflict back to the negotiating table and try to create a new security architecture, which Russia complained about the most in the past period, but whether that is possible is questionable.

Pribicevic said that is is also questionable how effective the economic sanctions against Russia that US President Joseph Biden is announcing are, because they will also affect Europe that is dependent on Russian gas.

"Such conflicts can turn into irrational things, in this case they can develop dangerously and one must appeal in favor of restraint," he said.

When it comes to Serbia, he said that this scenario in Ukraine does not suit us because of Kosovo and Metohija.

"For us, this is the most unfavorable scenario. It's logical that if this gets worse, both sides will insist that we take a stance, which we cannot do, and we must persist in that as a matter of principle," said former ambassador Ognjen Pribicevic.

(Telegraf.rs)