Boris Pistorius
“Russia is already producing weapons and ammunition beyond its need for conducting an aggressive war against Ukraine. With increased spending on armaments and the streamlining of the military economy, a significant portion or part of what is produced no longer goes to the front line, but ends up in warehouses. Now you can be naive and say he's doing it just out of caution. As a sceptical person, I would say in this case that he's doing it because he has plans or could have them.”
39 minutes ago
Emmanuel Macron
“There is a risk our Europe could die. We are not equipped to face the risks. Russia must not be allowed to win in Ukraine. Europeans should give preference to buying European military equipment. We must produce more, we must produce faster, and we must produce as Europeans.”
44 minutes ago
Aleksey Kushch
“By including the Ukraine package in a bill that also provides military aid to Israel and Taiwan, the US shows the world that it equals Ukraine's and Israel's archenemies - Russia and Iran. This is a mighty geopolitical slap for China. As the trade turnover between Russia and China rose to $240bn last year, the more the US pushes Beijing, the more discounts for oil and gas China gets from Russia.”
1 hour ago
Nikolay Mitrokhin
“The aid is a surprisingly exact match of Ukrainian military's needs that mostly has a deficit of air defence weaponry of all kinds and also needs to replenish its arsenal of tank destroyers, anti-infantry landmines and other kinds of ammunition. It's obviously needed to deliver infantry and other ground troops to the front line but not for an advance - otherwise the US would have given tanks.”
1 hour ago
Ihor Romanenko
“The aid can improve the situation on the 1,000km-long (620-mile-long) front line. But the aid looks like a handout to show that we haven't been forgotten, no more than that. They're always late, they hit the brakes, they're afraid. All of that is done to catch up [with Russia], but wars are won by those who act ahead of time.”
1 hour ago
Boris Pistorius
“Russia is already producing weapons and ammunition beyond its need for conducting an aggressive war against Ukraine. With increased spending on armaments and the streamlining of the military economy, a significant portion or part of what is produced no longer goes to the front line, but ends up in warehouses. Now you can be naive and say he's doing it just out of caution. As a sceptical person, I would say in this case that he's doing it because he has plans or could have them.”
39 minutes ago
Emmanuel Macron
“There is a risk our Europe could die. We are not equipped to face the risks. Russia must not be allowed to win in Ukraine. Europeans should give preference to buying European military equipment. We must produce more, we must produce faster, and we must produce as Europeans.”
44 minutes ago
Aleksey Kushch
“By including the Ukraine package in a bill that also provides military aid to Israel and Taiwan, the US shows the world that it equals Ukraine's and Israel's archenemies - Russia and Iran. This is a mighty geopolitical slap for China. As the trade turnover between Russia and China rose to $240bn last year, the more the US pushes Beijing, the more discounts for oil and gas China gets from Russia.”
1 hour ago
Nikolay Mitrokhin
“The aid is a surprisingly exact match of Ukrainian military's needs that mostly has a deficit of air defence weaponry of all kinds and also needs to replenish its arsenal of tank destroyers, anti-infantry landmines and other kinds of ammunition. It's obviously needed to deliver infantry and other ground troops to the front line but not for an advance - otherwise the US would have given tanks.”
1 hour ago
Ihor Romanenko
“The aid can improve the situation on the 1,000km-long (620-mile-long) front line. But the aid looks like a handout to show that we haven't been forgotten, no more than that. They're always late, they hit the brakes, they're afraid. All of that is done to catch up [with Russia], but wars are won by those who act ahead of time.”
1 hour ago
“It will be a completely new vaccine factory for the Sinopharm vaccine, which we will make together with the Emirates and the Chinese in Serbia. We will have to give the vaccine to the region … because for everything we cure or prevent our people [from getting] is not worth it if there is a problem in the region.”
“A friend in need is a friend indeed. We care about nothing else but our friendship to prosper, for us to advance economic development, and for us to be able to live not only as best neighbors, but also as best friends.”
“People ask why Ana [Brnabic] did not accept the invitation. If she’s going to Podgorica, who will be waiting for her at the airport? Is our ambassador waiting for her or not? Or did you [Montenegro] expel him, and you have not yet said whether you agree with the decision of [Montenegrin President] Milo Djukanovic who expelled him”
“I am sure now that we have formally solved all obstacles that Serbian citizens can go not only to the territory of Northern Macedonia but also to the territory of Albania only with an ID card, and that there will be many more Albanians in Nis and Belgrade … who want to see Serbia, but also many more Serbs who want to see Durres, Tirana and every other place in Albania.”
“When we talk about a compromise, the compromise can be: 'Will Serbia recognize Kosovo and then Kosovo can recognize Serbia'? We do not need that, we are a recognized state. From everyone. What we need is a compromise solution, for Belgrade’s position to be understood, for Serbia’s position to be understood, to understand that we must take care of the Serbs in Kosovo. It has been seven and a half years since the signing of the Brussels Agreement, and only one obligation has to be fulfilled by the Albanian side, that of the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority Municipalities. And what was their answer today? ‘We do not care about this, not until Serbia recognizes Kosovo’. It was not signed in Brussels that Serbia would recognize Kosovo, but with the EU as a guarantor, it was agreed that Kosovo would fulfill its obligations under the agreement. Now they are saying: 'we do not care, we will never do it, it is part of the regional agenda'. But we need to know, first of all, whether you will fulfill it or not. Second of all, are we talking about a compromise solution or an increase in pressure on Serbia? And do you really want to build normal relations or do you actually want to beat the Serbs? I think we need to find a solution which leaves both sides equally dissatisfied or a little bit satisfied.”
“It is good for our nations for us to come closer together rather than grow apart, and there are many reasons for that. We are both much smaller than we think of ourselves. This is a civilisational and, above all, humanitarian issue [search for missing persons from the war], whether someone's mother will be able to light a candle on her son's grave, regardless of whether her son is a Serb or a Croat. We need to make progress, that is important for the sake of those families. We need to intensify our efforts, and that's what we also expect from the Croatian side”
“We are ready to continue the dialogue, whenever Lajčák schedules it. We want a compromise solution to be reached, in order to normalize relations between Belgrade and Pristina. Whatever difficult talks we have, it is better to have a dialogue than not to talk, because in that situation, people’s lives, peace and stability may be endangered. The essence of the Brussels Agreement is the formation of the Association of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo. We want to build a common future with these people, and not to think about how someone will deceive someone.”
“What we are doing with CRBC [China Road and Bridge Corporation] ... and what makes this day important is -- that we can today discuss an overall accelerated development and modernization of Serbia.”
“We are confident that the two countries will continue to help each other. No matter what pressure Serbia is under, we will not question our friendship with China. The past was not easy, and the future may be more difficult, but we must show and prove our friendship with China. Even when I was in the most difficult place in the world to say good things about China, namely in Washington, I still told the other side that our relationship with China is very good”
“Where Americans come, where Americans want to invest, where the American Development Agency is, there is a future and those are good signals and symbols for such a country, for such a region.”
“We have agreed on a mechanism for determining the registers of displaced and missing persons and access to all archives. Prishtina will adopt a law on the return of displaced persons, which is an important step, although we remain reserved about the results in practice.”
“They thought we should call on Israel to recognize Kosovo, and we said we couldn’t because it undermines our policy. We said that if Israel and Pristina agree on that – fine. We also told Israel that if they respect Serbia, then our country will move the embassy to Jerusalem.”
“We will not have an easy time in the future. I think we will be exposed to great, great, let me not say pressure, but expectations from our European partners. At the same time we are faced with a completely unrealistic approach from Kosovo Albanians who want it all, leaving Serbia without anything. No one is going to cuddle us or give us a present. On the contrary, we will be pressured to give in.”
“It happened that people of a right-wing orientation – and no doubt at the beginning there were those who thought that they were there because of the coronavirus, and because of their understandable dissatisfaction with the possibility of tightening measures – attacked the National Assembly. These people were not talking about coronavirus – they were talking about some kind of betrayal, about migrants, the 5G network and the earth as a flat plate, and these people were not there for the first time, only their degree of aggression was higher”
“I would like us to be smart enough and to know that it's not always the territorial issue that's the most important. It's important, no doubt. But it cannot be more important ... than the values, than the virtue, than the language and the culture.”
“In reply to a possible offer to recognize Kosovo, and that Kosovo enters the UN, and we receive nothing in return, except EU membership, our answer would be ‘no’”
“It will create a kind of framework so that our business communities can cooperate incomparably better. Of course, this will open the possibility for political dialogue between us.”
“I think it's all about emotional issues - mainly because of 1999 and the Kosovo issue. This is something that we need to work on - and that's what we're going to do in the future. I think that after a while, we're going to have to put things on more rational foundations. And it will happen.”