WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th June, 2020) The United States looks forward to re-scheduling the meeting between the leadership of Serbia and the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo, US Special Envoy Richard Grenell said on Thursday.
The prime minister of Kosovo Avdullah Hoti said earlier in the day that they were forced to cancel the visit to the United States for the summit with the Serbian leadership over the war crimes indictment filed against Kosovo President Hashim Thaci.
"Thank you, Prime Minister Hoti. We understand your decision and we look forward to re-scheduling the meeting soon," Grenell said on Twitter.
On Wednesday, Thaci canceled his trip to the United States for the summit with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, slated for June 27, after being indicted by the Hague-based Office of the Special Prosecutor. The Office of the Special Prosecutor on Thursday filed an indictment against Thaci and nine other Albanian militants for conducting murders and other war crimes, including torture and forced disappearance in the late 1990s.
Albanians in Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia in February 2008 after a US-led NATO bombing campaign in 1999 against the then Yugoslavia - consisting of Serbia and Montenegro - paved the way for such an outcome. Pristina has since been seeking to gain recognition by as many other states as possible. Serbia, which has refused to recognize Kosovo's independence and refers to it as its Kosovo and Metohija region, has called on those who recognized its independence to revoke their move.
In 2011, Serbia, under the pressure of Brussels, began negotiations on the normalization of relations with Kosovar Albanians under the mediation of the European Union.
