© STRINGER / AFP
Russia on Saturday blamed the United States and the European Union (EU) for the “Pristina provocations” and condemned Kosovo’s use of force to force mayors into three sites blocked by the Serb minority.
Kosovar police on Friday used tear gas and nonlethal grenades to disperse Serb protesters who wanted to block access to the Albanianmajority mayors of Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic, who were elected in April elections that were boycotted by the municipality . Serbia.
Local media reported clashes between police and Serbs, a minority in Kosovo but majority in the north of the country.
Serbs in northern Kosovo do not recognize the authority of these mayors, who were elected in elections where turnout was three percent due to the Serbian boycott.
“In Pristina, this barbaric act, which is clearly aimed at continuing the ethnic cleansing of Serbs, is misleadingly presented as evidence of the good intentions of the authorities,” spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy Maria Zakharova told the Russian Foreign Ministry website.
The spokeswoman added that the deteriorating situation in Kosovo was a direct result of “malicious actions that are exposing the West’s neocolonial position in the Balkans”.
“We have repeatedly warned that US and EU officials are not peacemakers, but instigators of conflicts that undermine the international legal bases of the Kosovo Agreement and delay a mutually acceptable solution, which can only be based on the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 is possible.” , explained Zakharova.
Moscow, the spokeswoman added, strongly condemns Pristina’s provocative actions, which “bring the situation to a tense level and pose a direct threat to the security of the entire Balkan region.”
France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, countries that guarantee peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, on Friday condemned the use of force by the Kosovar authorities.
At the same time, the five western powers expressed their concern about Serbia’s decision to raise the alert level of its troops on the border with Kosovo.
Kosovo, a former Serbian province mostly populated by Albanians, declared independence in 2008, but Serbia does not recognize it.