The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, recently said that Brussels “will not tolerate any attacks (by the Serbs!) on EULEX members (EU police forces in Kosovo).” He also called on the Kosovo Serbs to “immediately remove all barricades and restore calm in the province.”
At the same time, in Brussels and other capitals that support the independence of Kosovo, they ignore the fact that the reason for the next outbreak of tension was the provocative actions of the authorities in Pristina, who consistently violate the rights of the Serbs and refuse to fulfill their earlier obligations towards the Serb minority of Kosovo. Instead, there are opinions that, they say, Belgrade stirs up passions and engages in “unnecessary rhetoric.”
The last few days the region is literally boiling. A former Kosovo policeman, Serb Dejan Pantic, was arrested, who was accused of almost “terrorist activity.” In violation of all previously agreed procedures, special forces of the Kosovo police entered the Serbian enclaves.
In Belgrade, the Serbian authorities announced their intention to request from KFOR (international military forces under the auspices of NATO, operating in the region since 1999) the opportunity to deploy up to 1,000 Serbian police officers in the north of Kosovo, which, by the way, is recorded in the well-known UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999 .
Belgrade has already been hit by a flurry of criticism and censure from various European capitals, as well as America. It is obvious that Serbian forces will not be allowed into Kosovo, no matter what the international documents on Kosovo suggest. This approach has already been confirmed in France, as well as by German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock and US Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar, who is in charge of the Western Balkans, who is in the region.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic criticized the approach of Berlin and Washington harshly, saying that “my friend Escobar has become another politician who is categorically against the most important resolutions of the Security Council. He took on the role of the UN Security Council and destroyed Resolution 1244.”
In turn, the American Escobar demonstrates the intentions of an “honest broker” in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. He again, like a mantra, repeated the phrase that Washington expects from the Kosovo rulers that “talk will begin on the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities.” This procedure has been going on since 2013 without much success.
It is noteworthy that the representatives of the EU, who for many years have been demonstrating complete impotence in the face of the rudeness and pressure of Pristina, are again trying to play “diplomacy”. “Sweet-voiced” Miroslav Lajcak, EU special envoy for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, expressed the hope that the barricades in northern Kosovo would be removed “thanks to dialogue, not bulldozers.”
Moscow once again expressed its categorical concern over the situation around Kosovo. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stressed at a recent briefing that “the responsibility for the political degradation in Kosovo and the deterioration of the security situation lies entirely with the leaders of the Kosovars, headed by “Prime Minister” A. Kurti, their Western guardians, among whom are clearly Washington dominates.
Moscow is convinced that in connection with the crisis in Kosovo “there is yet another deafening failure of the EU’s mediation in the stalled dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.”
One way or another, Kosovo is gradually turning into a problem for Europe, and even more. Serbia will obviously not be allowed to be the main players in this multi-move game. At the same time, everyone understands that the situation is acquiring an ominous sound and urgently requires a logical conclusion, preferably by peaceful means. Are the EU and the US capable of doing this?
