Shala: The exchange of territories concerned mutual recognition of Kosovo (Serbia), with concrete plans. The idea was Wes Mitchell's.

In a conversation at the podcastin P way in Time, Shala explained that this idea had taken shape within the framework of international efforts to reach a final agreement, but there was no concrete plan as discussions fail to reach that stage.

According to Shala, the proposal was built on the principle of formal recognition first taking place and then discussing the correction of borders peacefully, in line with international principles.

He stressed that this approach was related to American diplomat Wes Mitchell's commitment, with the aim of removing Russian influence from Serbia.

The “Ide has been Wes Mitchell's, absolutely, because it is initiated by the principle to remove the Russians from Serbia. Vucinciqi has told him, I to remove the Russians from Serbia, I must do things, make deals with Kosovo. But the idea was for formal, mutual recognition between the two states, we said earlier, when two states are recognised, you massit and make correction of borders, and don't have it, because it's the 1975 Helsinki principle. So, allowed peacefully”, Shala said.

In this process, the European Union's mediation -- of Federica Moghrin, who, respectively, had spoken openly of formal recognition during meetings with representatives of the parties, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq. Shala claims that at these meetings it had become clear that mutual recognition was the main topic of dialogue.

He added that the idea had support from other American officials, including John Bolton, although the latter, according to him, had come to a late stage of the process.

Speaking of the content of the discussions, Shala denied having had concrete plans for partitioning Kosovo or spending borders on the table. He stressed that he had not discussed the border on the Iber River and that, according to him, no Albanian politician would accept such a solution.

However, he acknowledged that the general idea had been for a part of the north to be linked to Serbia, but without including North Mitrovica, calling it a hypothetical scenario that had never reached a concrete negotiation stage due to opposition from both sides, but also Germany and Great Britain.