Stoltenberg urged Kosovo to reduce tensions with Serbia
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Kosovo must de-escalate and not take destabilizing steps. About it declared NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“Pristina and Belgrade should now engage in an EU-led dialogue, as this is the only path to peace and normalization. Pristina must de-escalate and not take unilateral destabilizing steps,” he tweeted.
He assured that the alliance is ready to continue to provide a “safe and secure environment” between the Kosovo and Serbian authorities.
On May 26, protests broke out outside the municipalities of North Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Zvecan and Leposavić, which are Serb-majority but where Albanians were elected despite low turnout. Serbian protesters demanded the annulment of the election results and the resignation of the heads of municipalities. In response, the Kosovo police fired tear gas and stun grenades in some municipalities.
Russia condemned actions of the Pristina authorities. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova mentioned the West, which, in her assessment, “played along with the regional authorities” in Kosovo. “They encouraged their anti-Serb policy, in fact, reduced the dialogue of the parties to the consistent infringement of the interests of Belgrade. The degradation of the situation in Kosovo is a direct consequence of such a malicious approach,” the representative stressed.
Anastasia Maleshevich, Research Fellow at the Institute for International Studies, MGIMO told Vedomosti reports that the authorities in Pristina not only made no fundamental progress in the issue of forming a community of Serbian municipalities, but also escalated.
She noted that elections were held in the Serbian-majority northern municipalities and, despite the boycott by the Serbs and a turnout of 3.5%, such elections were recognized by Western countries, which contradicts the logic of the settlement between the Serbian and Kosovo authorities.
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