After fierce clashes between Serbs and KFOR forces in northern Kosovo over the installation of ethnic Albanian mayors in Serb-majority communities, the US has imposed its first sanctions on the Balkan country.
“The measures taken by the Kosovo government (…) have created this atmosphere of crisis in the north,” said US Ambassador Jeffrey Hovenier. Violent clashes in northern Kosovo erupted as the government in Pristina attempted to deploy police to appoint ethnic Albanian mayors. As a first response, Kosovo has been excluded from the Defender 23 military exercise, which runs from April 22 to June 23. “For Kosovo, this exercise is over,” Hovenier told local media.
The US diplomat also threatened to cut off US diplomatic support for international recognition of the small Balkan country: “You don’t see much enthusiasm from the United States to accommodate Kosovo’s other interests, such as entering into non-recognition cases or actively contribute to their work to advance Kosovo’s European or Euro-Atlantic route.” Russia, China and some European states do not recognize Kosovo’s independence.
Russia ‘worried by violent protests’
Kosovo, a country of 1.8 million people, the majority of whom are ethnic Albanians, declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade still considers it a Serbian province to this day. About 120,000 Serbs live in Kosovo, most of them in the north of the country. Russia is behind Serbia in the Kosovo conflict. “We support Serbia and the Serbs unconditionally,” Russian presidential office spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. The rights and interests of Kosovo Serbs must be safeguarded. Russia is concerned about the violent protests in Kosovo.
On Monday, protests against the results of local elections boycotted by Serb residents had escalated. There were attacks on soldiers of the international security force KFOR, who had resisted Serb demonstrators who wanted to storm the municipal office in Zvecan. The soldiers were attacked with stones, bottles and incendiary bombs, injuring 30 of them. The US, EU and Germany strongly condemned the violence and NATO responded by strengthening the KFOR mission.
Source: Krone
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