Kosovo must fulfill the terms of the peace agreement with Serbia to join NATO

If Kosovo wants to achieve its goal of joining the NATO military alliance, it must fulfill the peace agreement with Serbia brokered by the West. This was stated the day before by U.S. senators visiting Pristina, Reuters reports.

Democratic U.S. senators who are part of a congressional delegation visiting the Balkans, Chris Murphy, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Gary Peters, a member of the Armed Services Committee, urged Kosovo and Serbia to act quickly on the agreement reached in March with the mediation of the European Union.

"For Kosovo, the way to NATO and the European Union is through an agreement with Serbia. This is an incontrovertible fact," Murphy told reporters at the US Embassy in Pristina.

Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, is not recognized as a state by four NATO members: Romania, Spain, Greece and Slovakia.

Senator Murphy then added that these four countries could be persuaded to accept Kosovo into NATO if the differences with Serbia were resolved.

"It depends on the conclusion and implementation of this agreement," the senator emphasized.

Despite an agreement in March to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia, there has been no progress. In northern Kosovo, about 50,000 Serbs still do not recognize Kosovo statehood.

Washington is the main supporter of Kosovo, both politically and financially. Currently, there are about 4,000 NATO troops in Kosovo, including 600 from the United States, to maintain the fragile peace.

Serbia and its traditional supporter Russia do not recognize independence of Kosovo, and Moscow has blocked the country application for UN membership. Belgrade still considers Kosovo part of its territory.

As a reminder, Ukraine has applied to join the EU and NATO in 2022 and hopes to realize its aspirations as soon as possible. In the same year, the European Council granted Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership.

The Alliance is now ready to offer Ukraine a security model similar to that of Israel. It will facilitate the transfer of weapons and advanced technologies to Kyiv and will be a step towards membership in the Alliance.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the Alliance agrees with the accession of Ukraine. At the same time, NATO emphasizes that accession is possible after a full-scale war is over.

In a joint statement, the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia called for a clear membership plan for Ukraine.

Subsequently, the Estonian parliament also adopted a statement in support of Ukrainian accession to NATO and called on NATO member states to plan concrete steps toward the accession at the July summit.