The West Balkans are a priority for the White House, which is why a strong experienced team has been entrusted with the task to meet goals relating to Kosovo, namely for Serbia to recognize its independence within its current borders and for Moscow to not veto the accession of Kosovo to the United Nations, said retired United States Ambassador William Montgomery, estimating that it is an impossible task.

Washington’s goal, as he says, is for Serbia to fully abide with the European Union’s policy on Russia and for Bosnia to become a unified country with amendments made to the Dayton Agreement in order to give more power to the centralized country, and, if need be, use the authorities of the High Representative to remove from office those who are making waves, in their opinion, such as Dodik.

“Unfortunately, the team has been presented with an impossible task. My hope is that they will realize it and eventually use their skills to convince the White House to understand that this policy will not work,” Montgomery, former United States Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia and Bulgaria said to Tanjug regarding the visit by Karen Donfried, Deputy United States Secretary of State, and Gabriel Escobar, State Department Envoy, and their meetings with Serbian officials, which Christopher Hill, current United States Ambassador in Belgrade, also attended.

Montgomery cautioned that the pressure on Serbia to abide with the European Union’s policy will increase the longer that the war in Ukraine lasts.

“Passions will run higher, the pressure to take a common side against Russia will increase, and the danger of World War III will grow. That will lead to more pressure being put on Serbia. In other words, Serbia is in an untenable position,” said the American diplomat.

Montgomery also said that “he can only laugh at the European Union”, which has done nothing to punish Kurti for his provocations, and the minimal steps taken towards Serbia’s membership in the Union, actually trying to use the European path as a weapon against Serbia for failing to impose sanctions on Russia.

“In fact, the actions of Brussels in Kosovo and Serbia, or lack thereof, were the main reason why Serbia was unwilling to put all of its eggs in the EU basket,” stated Montgomery.

Regarding the goal for Serbia to coordinate its foreign policy with that of the European Union and the goals related to Bosnia, Montgomery emphasized that most of those goals have not worked for over two decades, and that it seems like Washington was not sufficiently convinced of the fact that a new approach is necessary.

In Montgomery’s opinion, the reality is that the three ethnic groups in Bosnia and the two in Kosovo “hate” each other just as much as they did two decades ago, and both of those examples threaten the dream of a multiethnic society.

“Our dream to make multiethnic societies work is just that: a dream,” said Montgomery when asked to comment on the American officials’ visit to the region and Washington’s expectations, especially Biden’s appointment of “specialists” for the West Balkans.