President: I'm going to Kosovo; Gazivode to be my first stop

President: I'm going to Kosovo; Gazivode to be my first stop

Addressing reporters late on Friday, after a failed, EU-mediated round of Kosovo talks in Brussels, Vucic said the past few days had been extremely difficult, and that pressure had been piling on over last 72 hours.

"The past few days have been difficult for our people and its representatives and for us who represent Serbia in the international arena. I'm sure you do not know what has been happening over the previous 72 hours. Everything started with the difficult, until now unseen, pressure on the members of the (Kosovo) Assembly from the Serb List, and then pressure continued on the leadership of Serbia to support (Fatmir) Limaj as the (new) head of the Kosovo negotiating team. The Serb List did not want to support Limaj. I am not going to go into any other reasons, but here I have Limaj's dossier, who is charged with the most severe crimes against our people (as a former member of the so-called KLA")," Vucic said in his address to the public.

As he added, top Kosovo officials threatened with arrests, harassment, and then a ban on (him) going to Gazivode came about.

"I receives a ban on visiting Gazivode, in the written form, meaning - if you go there, you will fare like (brutally arrested Marko) Djuric, that's something geared toward the domestic public (in Kosovo) - and as far as the European (public) is concerned, everything is fine. That was the reason why I could not speak with the Kosovo representatives (in Brussels earlier in the day), which does not mean that we will end the dialogue. We will have to continue to talk because the key is to preserve peace," Vucic said.

Vucic added that his intention was to act responsibly and seriously from the beginning and to fight for a solution to the problem, but stressed that it will "take a lot of time to reach an agreement".

He added that he had been two or three times at Gazivode already, but also that he will start the visit to Kosovo and Metohija on Saturday precisely by visiting Gazivode and the Lake Environmental Center.

"I will address our people, I will have an eventful and a full day, probably until midnight, maybe longer, but I want people to hear the truth, maybe they won't like everything, but it's my job to fight. I have a personal obligation because I got I received the biggest support in Kosovo and Metohija, 80 percent of the Serbs voted for me," the president said.

According to him, he will try to "overcome" something he described as "an impossible situation".

"I will fight because I feel a huge responsibility," Vucic said.