Djuric: Zagreb, Tirana and Pristina want no region of future, but new arms races

BELGRADE - By signing a trilateral agreement on defence cooperation, Zagreb, Tirana and Pristina have sent a message that they do not want a region of the future, but new arms races, Serbia's caretaker FM Marko Djuric said on Thursday, noting that Belgrade's diplomatic activity had put the signatories of the pact on the defensive.

Speaking to Euronews, Djuric said the agreement violated the spirit and the substance of a 1996 subregional arms control deal that was an integral part of the Dayton Agreement.

He said Serbia had requested explanation from Croatia and Albania, signalling to the international community that they had signed the agreement in a sensitive region at a very sensitive time without consulting some of their neigbours.

"Serbia was not the only country in the region with which they held no discussions. They also have not done so with a number of other countries as well, and they needed to justify themselves before the international community," Djuric said.

He said the issue had also been addressed in a recent discussion between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and that it had been revealed after the meeting that even Rutte had not been informed of "something that has a fundamental impact on the security architecture in the region."

"What is good is that we have exposed all that and made the stakeholders keep justifying themselves before the international public and explaining that this was not aimed against anyone. They even had to publish the text of that agreement even though they were previously hiding it," Djuric said.