Jeanne Shaheen

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic spoke by phone with US Senators Chris Murphy, Jeanne Shaheen and Pete Ricketts on Tuesday.

The situation in the north of Kosovo-Metohija was the sole topic of the conversation, the presidential press office said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, stated that, if the agreement of the so-called Kosovo and Serbia is implemented, it will open the way for the so-called Kosovo to be recognized by five EU countries that did not yet do so.

Two US Senators are asking President Joe Biden to link the issue of NATO enlargement with the request submitted by Turkey for the upgrade and purchase of new F-16 fighter jets.

New legislation introduced into the US Senate aims to support economic development in the Western Balkans through initiatives on infrastructure, trade and anti-corruption, including codification of sanctions to deter destabilizing activity. It also aims to strengthen security in Bosnia and Herzegovina and encourage Albanian and North Macedonian integration into the EU.

Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Murphy (Foreign Affairs Committee) and Thom Tillis (Armed Services Committee) have met with President Vucic.
They discussed bilateral cooperation, Serbia's European integration, the situation in the region, energy and the crisis in Ukraine.

U.S.

A Lebanese military judge on March 17 appealed a verdict by the military tribunal that ordered the release of a Lebanese-American held since September on charges of working for an Israeli-backed militia two decades ago, state-run National News Agency said.

US Senators on Thursday introduced a bipartisan bill to prohibit the transfer of F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey until the US government certifies that Ankara will not take delivery of a Russian S-400 air defense system, a statement on the move said.

Turkey may be expelled from the US-led F-35 program if the country's government completes the acquisition of a Russian anti-aircraft system, according to an unclassified summary of a Pentagon report sent to Congress, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

Two senior members of the United States' Senate, Lindsey Graham and Jeanne Shaheen, have paid a previously undisclosed trip to the Turkish capital to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a direct appeal for the release of U.S. national Pastor Andrew Brunson who has been in prison for more than 20 months on terror charges.