Earlier in the day, Trump defeated his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the elections. The Congress is scheduled to approve the results of the voting on January 6, 2017. The US president-elect will take office at the inauguration on January 20. Shorty after the results were made public, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory letter to Trump, in which the Russian leader said that Moscow was ready to restore full-format relations with the United States, saying that it was a "good sign."
"If the campaign rhetoric was not false, we can expect the co-operation between Russia and the United States, a better understanding of Serbia's position on non-recognition of the independence of the so-called [state of] Kosovo, and [Serbia's] position on non-accession to the sanctions against Russia," Nikolic said, as quoted by his press service.
Nikolic said that Trump's victory "was not expected only by those who live with their eyes closed."
In 1998, an armed conflict broke out between Kosovo Albanian independence supporters and Yugoslavia, with the militias seeking independence of Kosovo and Metohija. The following year, NATO intervened in the conflict without UN approval and started to bomb Yugoslavia. Since then, Belgrade has lost control of Kosovo, as the Serbian government had to agree to the presence of a NATO military contingent and the subsequent transfer of the territory to UN administration. In 2008, the Albanian government of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia.
Unlike the United States and some European countries, Russia has not recognized Kosovar statehood, and believes Kosovo to be part of Serbia.
