© REUTERS/Valdrin XhemajSpecial police forces officers stand next to a burning car, following clashes between Kosovo police and ethnic Serb protesters, who tried to prevent a newly-elected ethnic Albanian mayor from entering his office, in the town of Zvecan, Kosovo, May 26, 2023.
Britain, France, Italy, Germany and the United States
condemned Kosovo's decision to force access to municipal buildings in northern Kosovo on Friday,
calling on the authorities to step back and de-escalate the situation.
"We condemn Kosovo's decision to force access to municipal buildings in northern Kosovo despite our call for restraint. We call on Kosovo's authorities to immediately step back and de-escalate, and to closely coordinate with EULEX (the EU mission) and KFOR (NATO's mission in Kosovo," the countries said in a joint statement posted on the British government's website.
"We are concerned by Serbia's decision to raise the level of readiness of its Armed Forces at the border with Kosovo and call all parties for maximum restraint, avoiding inflammatory rhetoric."
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic
placed the country's army on full combat alert and ordered army units to move closer to the border with Kosovo on Friday, after protesters and police clashed in a majority Serb town in the neighbouring country.
Police fired tear gas in the town of Zvecan to disperse a crowd from in front of a municipality building.
The protesters were trying to prevent a newly-elected ethnic Albanian mayor from entering his office following an election which Kosovo Serbs had boycotted.
Comment: The Russian Foreign Ministry has
blamed NATO for exacerbating the tensions:
Zakharova pointed out that the situation in the area had reached "a critical red line." ...
Zakharova argued that the crisis in Kosovo, which could be resolved peacefully, turned out to be "a nut too hard to crack" for NATO service members. "Not only have they shown their incompetence ... [they] themselves became a source of unnecessary violence, an escalation factor," the spokeswoman claimed.
As a result, those who were charged with protecting Serbs from this crackdown, "supported Pristina's xenophobic aspirations, basically turning into terror accomplices" by defending local authorities, she said.
The spokeswoman also urged the West to "silence its false propaganda" and stop accusing desperate Serbs of provoking incidents when they were just trying to defend their legitimate rights in a peaceful manner.
"While looking for the guilty, mediators from the US and the EU should muster up some courage and look in the mirror," the official stated. "To de-escalate, decisive steps are needed, and not half-measures like an idea proposed by the US to temporarily 'move' the newly-minted 'mayors' from municipal buildings to other facilities," Zakharova stressed, adding that those steps may include the creation of an association of Serbian municipalities in Kosovo.
This was in reference to NATO troops getting caught up in the "peacekeeping":
Joaquin Flores comments:
Comment: The Russian Foreign Ministry has blamed NATO for exacerbating the tensions: This was in reference to NATO troops getting caught up in the "peacekeeping":
- 50 injured as NATO troops clash with Serb demonstrators
- NATO troops brawl with Serb protestors (VIDEO)
Joaquin Flores comments: