Kosovo Army and the influence of America in the Balkans -- two things Vladimir Putin does not stand (complete interview)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia respects the Serbian leadership's decision to join the EU.

“against our Western partners, we do not try to impose an artificial dilemma in Belgrade and impose Serbia if it wants to be with Russia or the European Union, Putin has said in an interview given to Serbian daily Politika and Vecernje Novosti.

Before going to Serbia, exactly the day before, the Russian president declares that while Russia has many friends in the Balkans, Serbia remains our special partner, Periscope follows.

“To be honest, we have been surprised with the European Union's passive response to the Kosovo Parliament's decision to transform Kosovo's Seat Force into the army” has said Putin.

It is clear that with this step, the life of Serbs in the province is directly endangered. For more, it is a provocative step that can disrupt the situation in the region. It is hard to see that the European Union closes one eye until it sees such unilateral acts and violates international law and in particular whether Brussels' request is to continue dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade”, Vuciq has said, followed. Periscope.

“We assess the neutral position of Serbia's leadership in this situation”, the Russian president says. “at the same time, we have consistently supported Serbia in the past years to reaffirm its defence and military capacity and have supported modernisation of its defence. We will continue military co-operation further”, says Vladimir Putin.

When we talk about the situation in the Balkans, a serious threat to destabilizing the situation is America and several other Western countries because of their race to dominate this region”, Putin has said.

At the beginning of 1999, NATO forces, without any authorization from the United Nations, bombed Yugoslavia for more than two months. In 2008, Washington and their allies support the unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence”, Putin points out, Periscope.

He further cites the situation in Montenegro and Macedonia.

In 2017, despite half the will of their population, Montenegro joined NATO. Authorities there were not tired of holding any relevant referendum, as a result of which later followed the country's encounter with unstable political situation” says Putin on Montenegro as he mentions the huge international pressure it has had to join NATO's and to make constitutional changes.

“Russia recognises and understands all the complexity of the situation in the Balkans and knows the history of this region, and in this way, always has been shown a constructive collaborator”, Vladimir Putin continues.

In this way, our unconditional priority remains to contribute to regional stability and security. We respectfully support all the rights and interests of Balkan countries together with the peoples living in them compared to respecting international law”, he says, Periscope.

 Putin underlines that good relations between Russia and Serbia are based on genuine friendship, just as between the two peoples. Name the history of both peoples during world wars and the heoric battlefields against Nazism.

Later, little is released in the economic aid Russia gives to Serbia. According to him, economic co-operation between Serbia and Russia has been very good in the past and will be in the future. According to him, Russia aims to exceed investments in Serbia, up to $4 billion this year.

Russia's “Investments into the Serbian economy have exceeded $4 billion. Co-operation with Gazprom and Serbia's Oil Industry co-operation has become a leader in the regional oil market”, Putin says. /Periscope.