Zakharova compared the aggravation in Kosovo with the war in Georgia

The situation that has developed recently in Kosovo was observed in 2008 in Georgia, when ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili was “inspired” by the prospect of Georgia joining NATO and began shelling South Ossetia, stated Maria Zakharova, official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Zakharova drew attention to the fact that the aggravation in Kosovo is taking place against the backdrop of the EU summit in Albania. She clarified that on December 6, the EU adopted the Tirana Declaration, which speaks of supporting the aspirations of the “Western Balkans” to join the European Union. The document also says that separatist Kosovo (like Serbia) are “on the European path,” Zakharova said.

“So, is it any wonder that literally less than a week later, the Kosovo separatists launched an armed escalation and forceful provocations in the province? Serb Dejan Pantic was arrested and began to broadcast aggressive rhetoric. Let me remind you that the vast majority of the current residents of Kosovo are ethnic Albanians who are closely following the state life and the European perspective of neighboring Albania,” she wrote.

According to her, in parallel with the aggravation in Kosovo, Prime Minister Albin Kurti recently filed an application for EU membership, “a political process has been launched.” The Foreign Ministry believes that “something similar” happened in 2008, when Saakashvili “went crazy and started shelling South Ossetia, Russian citizens and peacekeepers.”

“A tested mechanism of inspired impunity. The risk of escalation and armed confrontation in the northern part of the Territory is growing. So instead of a European perspective, the prospects for Kosovo will, it turns out, be completely different,” Zakharova said.

She called the actions of the EU a betrayal: with one hand it leads Belgrade to a “beautiful future”, and with the other it is engaged in anti-Serb provocations, Zakharova explained.

Tensions in the region escalated on 10 December 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 EU mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and members of the NATO-led international security forces in Kosovo and Metohija (KFOR) were then deployed to the barricades. The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, warned that the EU would not tolerate attacks on its mission and demanded that the Kosovo Serbs “immediately remove the barricades.” Kurti said that he turned 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 Vucic convened an emergency meeting of the country’s Security Council.