The US is bluffing to Serbia, “punishing” Kosovo
Kosovo’s refusal to cancel 100% duties on Serbian goods and threats of punishment for this with US sanctions are a staged act by Washington.
Political scientist Oleg Bondarenko told PolitNavigator about this.
“If Washington actually demanded some things from Kurti (new “Prime Minister” of Kosovo – ed.), and these things would be so important to him, he would be able to push them through. But now they are playing with Serbia. Like, look, we are putting pressure on the Kosovars so that they cancel the duties. But they don’t agree,” Bondarenko noted.
Let us recall that US diplomats tried to achieve an exchange: Kosovo cancels 100% of duties on Serbian goods - Serbia stops the international campaign to revoke recognition of Kosovo. However, the new Kosovo “Prime Minister” Albin Kurti refused to lift the blockade of the Serbian enclaves.
“Kosovo politicians have become accustomed over the past 20 years to being central to US policy in Europe. Little Kosovo began to occupy an important geopolitical position. The US President regularly meets with its leader, the largest military base in Europe is located here, and a lot of money is invested in this territory. Therefore, the new Kosovo leader is trying to generate US interests in the direction he needs. And if you take into account that the interests of Washington and Berlin differ, there is room for a game, the goal of which is to negotiate for yourself the maximum possible preferences and dividends,” Bondarenko said.
In response to Kurti's demarche and refusal to lift tariffs on Serbian goods, the United States threatened to withdraw troops from Kosovo and introduced preemptive "sanctions" against the Pristina regime: the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) stopped an investment program in Kosovo's electricity sector worth about 200 million euros.
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