Bolton: The territorial exchange was not my idea, the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia requested it

The former National Security Adviser of American President Donald Trump, John Bolton, has spoken about the issue of dividing the borders between Kosovo and Serbia and who first made this proposal.

Bolton somehow admits that he has been informed about this issue, which he said was the idea of ​​the presidents of Kosovo and Serbia, namely Hashim Thaçi and Aleksandër Vucic, although he did not mention names.

Bolton has also shown the fear of some EU countries to accept the division of Kosovo, while he has mentioned the impact and attempts of Russia to have influence in the Balkans. The former senior official of the Pentagon considered failure to hold the high-level meeting in Washington on June 27, but for him, the parties have only lost a photograph since nothing would be achieved.

"The land exchange was not my idea, it was the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia who asked for it. I think I was influential in thinking that some steps needed to be taken in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, the first to reduce Russian involvement and influence by trying to get them to bring back the flavor of the cold war. in the first place, Ukraine was at risk, first I had to talk to Belarus so that it would not be abstracted from a Great Russia. Poland and Belarus were with me. In the Balkans, I said that the danger remained with unresolved disputes, fertile ground for someone who would be able to create conflicts. The resolution for the name Macedonia was a great achievement.

I thought we should see that we make some progress in Kosovo. The meeting in Washington between Serbia and Kosovo did not produce an agreement, I stayed outside. It worries me that these meetings would be a photo opportunity and nothing more. The meeting also failed for photos. Being attentive to the Russian interventions, for me, America but also the Europeans needed attention to the situation. As of 2018, there were impacts on Serbia and Kosovo. The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo wanted to resolve these issues between themselves, because there could be no economic development with disagreement. A lot of controversy within the two countries.

One of the things we were going to discuss was land exchange, but it was met with objections in the Balkans and Europe because they were afraid that a land exchange there could also happen elsewhere in Europe. This has happened in history, something you have to live with, accept. If Kosovo and Serbia had reached the agreement, and part of it would be the exchange of land, and part of the EU would be against it and oppose it? This would not happen. James Baker once said that only the parties can make decisions, we are ready to help you", said Bolton to Fokus.