Borrell warns Serbia: Maintaining ties with Russia is not compatible with the path to the EU

The head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, has reminded Serbia that maintaining close ties with Russia is not compatible with the EU membership process.

He spoke in Brussels, after the meeting of the bloc's ministers, where he also demanded full and rapid implementation of the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, which according to him is the only path towards normalization.

Borrell said that in the meeting they discussed the influence of Russia, which is trying to divert the European path of the candidate countries of the Western Balkans.

Borrell-Serbia: Maintaining close ties with Russia is not compatible with the EU accession process

"We welcome the encouraging strategic choices of some of them, who are fully aligned with our foreign policy and sanctions, and we also showed those who are not fully aligned or not aligned at all, and I want to mention Serbia, that maintaining close ties with Russia is not compatible with the process of its membership in the European Union", said Borrell.

While speaking about the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, he said that tensions and provocations must end.

"We specifically mentioned the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, once again I have to clarify that being a member of the European Union is an exercise of cooperation, it is an exercise of countries that have fought in the past, to become not only neighbors, but also friends and partners . This is an exercise of living together, and for this reason, the full and rapid implementation of the agreement is the only way to normalize relations between Belgrade and Pristina. Mutual tensions and provocations must end. And the negative atmosphere and lack of constructiveness must also stop. Being a member of the European Union means being able to cooperate and act as a good neighbor, overcoming all the difficulties of the past", he said.