Foreign Ministry: in Kosovo they are afraid of a direct clash with the Serbian security forces

Moscow is waiting for Belgrade’s reaction to the methods proposed by Russia to normalize the situation in Kosovo, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on December 15, answering a question from Vedomosti. “The Russian Ambassador to Serbia is in close contact with the Serbian leadership. I have an order <…> about concrete steps to propose ways to normalize the whole situation, we are waiting for the reaction of Belgrade,” she said.

UN Security Council Resolution 1244 laid the foundation for resolving the situation and secured the possibility of returning up to 1,000 representatives of Serbian law enforcement agencies to Kosovo to protect the Serbs living there, Zakharova recalled. “Under the current conditions [это] would be a way to stabilize the situation. Belgrade’s request for this measure would be absolutely legitimate and, in our opinion, effective. As well as convening a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss this issue,” the official representative of the Foreign Ministry believes.

The possibility of the return of a limited contingent of Serbian military and police to Kosovo is the “main irritant” for the “Westerners” and their “Kosovo wards”, they “outright” reject this option, calling it unacceptable, Zakharova said. “It is clear that they are afraid of a direct clash that could bury the plans for the illegal sovereignization of Kosovo and are doing everything to prevent the appearance of Serbian security forces there,” she said. It is necessary to “remove the root cause of the scenario, which is the targeted oppression of the Serbs” in Kosovo, Zakharova said.

According to the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the return of the Serbian military and police to the province is a fundamental provision of resolution 1244. “The opponents of a fair settlement are playing for time. <…> However, the decisions of the UN Security Council do not lose their relevance. And you can see what the mediation efforts of the West and the European Union have led to,” Zakharova specified.

The situation in the region again escalated On December 10, after an ethnic Serb and former Kosovo police officer, Dejan Pantić, was detained at the Jarine checkpoint for an alleged attack on an electoral commission. The Serbian population in response began to erect barricades, blocking the passage along the highway in several settlements near the checkpoint, and went to protests. One of the goals of this action was to prevent the transfer of Pantic to Pristina.

Patrols from the European Union Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and members of the NATO-led international security forces in Kosovo and Metohija (KFOR) were drawn to the barricades. The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, on Twitter warned that the EU would not tolerate attacks on its mission, and demanded that the Kosovo Serbs “immediately remove the barricades.” Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that he had appealed to the NATO KFOR mission about the barricades erected by the Serbs, and added that he was waiting for an answer until the evening of December 11, after which he promised to dismantle them on his own.

After that, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić convened an emergency meeting of the country’s Security Council. According to its results, Vucic called December 11 the most difficult day for him during the period when he served as prime minister and president of the country.

Zakharova blamed the deterioration of the situation on the leaders of Kosovo, led by Kurti. In her opinion, the goal of the “provocateurs” is to take the non-Albanian northern regions of the province under full control. “We are monitoring its development literally around the clock, especially after a series of provocations, which, with the connivance of the United States and the European Union, were undertaken by the “authorities” in Pristina, who have taken a course towards tougher repressions against the Serbs in Kosovo,” noted Zakharov.

On December 12, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said that the situation around Kosovo is “on the last line”, beyond which a hot stage of confrontation is possible. “The situation is escalating sharply, and the trend is very dangerous, I would say that it is on the last line, after which bloodshed or a hot phase of confrontation can occur,” the diplomat said. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Vucic did not turn to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for help in connection with the aggravation of the Kosovo crisis.

On December 14, Kosovo Albanians carried out a police-backed power grab by force in the municipality of Severna Mitrovica in northern Kosovo and Metohija (as the area is officially known as Belgrade). This was stated on Wednesday by the head of the office for Kosovo and Metohija under the Cabinet of Ministers of Serbia, Petar Petkovic. “Today, by legal violence and unilateral actions, Albanians have taken the parliamentary seats belonging to Serbs in the Serbian municipality of Kosovska Mitrovica, although no one voted for them and they have no support from the Serbian people,” leads TASS Petkovich’s words.

According to media reports, the Kosovars entered the municipal building and, under the protection of the Kosovo police, held a meeting of the municipal council. They appointed Albanian deputies who took an “oath”, after which they “elected” the head of the municipality (Nejat Ugljanin). According to Petkovic, Pristina is seeking the creation of a “mono-ethnic Albanian municipality” and the expulsion of all Serbs from the northern part of Mitrovica.

On the same day, Kosovo President Vyosa Osmani, Kurti and Parliament Speaker Glauk Konyuftsa signed an application for the partially recognized republic to join the European Union, local RTK television reported.

“Today we have come together to bring our country one step closer to the European Union, thereby helping to bring the EU one step closer to realizing the project of a whole Europe, free and at peace. There has never been any other alternative for Kosovo and its citizens,” Osmani said. The president of the unrecognized republic of Russia warned that the EU accession process “will not be smooth” and could take a long time.