Kerry's Serbia-Kosovo Tour to Focus on Security

John Kerry will visit Belgrade on December 3 to take part in the annual ministerial council of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, organized by Serbia, the country chairing the organisation in 2015.

Serbia's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said the main topics during the two-day meeting will be security-related in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris that left 129 people dead.

"The ministerial meeting will be a great opportunity to talk about the fight against terrorism and questions concerning refugees," Dacic said.

Kerry's is the second senior Western official to come to Serbia in two weeks.

Earlier, Serbia hosted a visit by the NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, which experts said showed Serbia wants to maintain its foreign-policy balance between Russia and the West.

The NATO Secretary-General's visit came shortly after the visit of the Serbian Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, to Moscow where Serbia agreed to buy Russian weapons.

Bosko Jaksic, a Belgrade political analyst, told BIRN on Friday that Kerry's visit to Serbia was mostly "ceremonial" and connected to the ongoing refugee crisis and terrorism.

However, he did not exclude the likelihood of important bilateral unofficial talks.

"Russian influence in the Balkans may be discussed behind the scenes, but it will not dominate [the talks] in public," he predicted.

"It is obvious that the West will not initiate such a topic [in public] as it would even further damage already strained relations netween the East and West," Jaksic said.

Kerry's visit comes amidst heighten tensions in the region following the Paris attacks in mid-November, which have led to Balkans countries limiting transit...