By Anadolu Agency
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) on Tuesday as “an escalation factor” in recent clashes in Kosovo.
In a statement on the ministry’s website, Zakharova said the crisis in the municipalities of Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposaviс could be settled through finding a compromise, but “it turned out to be too tough for the KFOR mission.”
“They (KFOR) not only demonstrated their lack of professionalism, but also became a source of unnecessary violence and an escalation factor,” she stressed.
Zakharova said the West demonstrates a “selective attitude towards the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1244,” of which only the military presence in the province is “taken seriously.”
She urged to “reverse the fake municipal elections held on April 23” and stop provoking Serbia, which “was forced to put its army on full combat readiness and send it to the administrative line with Kosovo.”
The spokeswoman said that if the US and the European Union want to find the “guilty” party, they have “to look in the mirror.”
“Decisive steps are needed to de-escalate, instead of half-measures like the American idea of temporarily moving the newly appointed mayors from municipal buildings and ‘resettling’ them in other facilities,” she said.
Zakharova named as “the number one task” the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities in the province in its original form, as envisaged in agreements between Belgrade and Pristina under the guarantees of Brussels 10 years ago.
“This is a key condition for dialogue, which is the only chance to ensure stability and security in the region,” she said.
Tensions have gripped Kosovo, with protesters and security forces clashing in the northern Serb-dominated municipalities over the election of ethnic Albanian mayors.
Albanians are the largest ethnic group in Kosovo, followed by Serbs, especially in the north near the border with Serbia.
Eleven Italian and 19 Hungarian soldiers with KFOR sustained multiple injuries, including fractures and burns, from improvised explosive incendiary devices.
Meanwhile, more than 53 civilians were injured from shock bombs and tear gas, according to hospital sources.