The prestigious American New York Times interviewed Serbian President Aleksander Vučić after the July 31 tensions in the north. The NYT also spoke with the representative of the US diplomatic mission in Serbia, Christopher Hill, who narrated the episode of what he said to the Serbian president, on the critical day in the north.
Ambassador Hill told the American newspaper that he did not consider the Kosovo-Serbia armed conflict possible, however, he told Vucic that it would be the first war to start over car license plates.
"Mr. Hill, the US ambassador, has also called for calm. In an interview in the Serbian capital Belgrade, Hill said that while he considered armed conflict impossible, he had told Mr. Vucic: "Wars have started over land, money, even a beautiful woman. But that would be the first fight I've ever heard of starting with a license plate," the New York Times reported.
The US ambassador to Serbia, Christopher R. Hill, a veteran diplomat whose appointment signaled Washington's heightened anxiety about the Balkans, said Russia, offering only "economic blackmail" and "chaos throughout the region ", had found few supporters.
"Despite Russia's influence in Serbia's energy sector and despite its efforts to spread disinformation here, the Serbs have decided that their future is with Europe and the West," Hill said.
The New York Times asked Vučić about the nickname that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti gave him in April, calling him "little Putin".
"I am 2 meters tall, Putin is shorter, although Putin's real height is a sensitive topic for the Kremlin. "Kurti wants to be a 'little Zelenski' fighting 'little Putin,'" Vucic responded, saying that Kurti wants to make Vucic look like "a terrible nationalist who wants to fight against everyone."
Vucic reiterated once again that he will not impose sanctions on the Russian Federation, at least not until EU membership is accelerated.