Petkov for the deal: It can be interpreted as recognition of independence

The “thanks to President Aleksandar Vuciq's powerful diplomatic efforts, we today managed to get the necessary guarantees from the EU and thus reach agreement on freedom of movement and Serbian documents. With it, we managed to secure peace and stability in Kosovo and preserve Serbian IDs for Serbs in the southern province, both in the north and south of Ibri. So I can say that we have important news”, he said through a written statement.

According to him, with this takeover the presence of Serbia's state in Kosovo has been preserved.

This means that any citizen of Serbia living in Kosovo will be able to move freely with Serbian ID. Every Serb in the south and north of Ibri, without exception, will be able to live, work normally with other Serbs and use IDs to pass administrative crossings”, he said.

He said the agreement that recognises the documents would be accompanied by a text saying:

The access to IDs issued by Pristina [Kosovo] is only for practical reasons to facilitate citizens' position and enable freedom of movement, in line with the freedom of movement reached in the dialogue in 2011. This cannot be interpreted as recognition of unilaterally proclaimed independence by Kosovo, does not prejudge determining Kosovo's final status, and is not interpreted as Belgrade's consent to deviate from UN Resolution 1244”, Petkovqi has said. /rel