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

Gazivode is a lake and a hydro-energy complex located in the northern, predominantly Serb part of Kosovo.

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...