30.05.2023, Belgrad.
The NATO-led force in Kosovo and Metohija openly sided with the Kosovo police and is a factor of conflict escalation. Russian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko stated this at a briefing on May 30.
“The intensity of the confrontation and the tension is getting higher and higher with each time, it is escalating. Everything is going to the critical point, because there have already been fairly large-scale clashes between Serbs and the Kosovo Albanian police and the Kosovo Force (KFOR),” he said.
According to him, the Kosovo Force has been “symbolically” providing security and guarantees for Serbs since the beginning of its presence in Kosovo.
“Now this task is completely ignored, and this is the specifics of this aggravation – they openly sided with the Kosovo police or the Kosovo Special Forces, acted together and became, as stated in the Russian Foreign Ministry statement, a factor of escalation,” the Russian ambassador concluded.
On May 29, thousands of Kosovo Serbs protested in front of the local administrative building in the north of the province. They demanded the withdrawal of the Kosovo police and the recall of the Kosovo Albanian mayors. Clashes between police, Kosovo Force and protesters started around 5:00 p.m. (6:00 p.m. Moscow time). The police and Kosovo Force used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the protesters, and the sound of gunfire could be heard. According to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, 52 Serbs were injured.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
