The peacekeepers of the KFore (Kosovo Force) units essentially consist of the military contingent of NATO member countries and create only the appearance of compliance with their actions with the powers approved by the UN Security Council. Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko told Izvestia correspondent Vitaly Chashchukhin about this on December 15.
The diplomat explained: formally, the peacekeepers of KFore or the “Forces for Kosovo” are not NATO, not European. These are forces that, under Resolution 1244, have the authority and mandate approved by the UN Security Council. This is a kind of shell, the outer side. But the KFore contingent is the military of NATO countries.
“Plus, the presence of the Camp Bondsteel American base, arbitrarily created in Kosovo under the guise of peacekeeping, all this led the Kosovo Forces to actions that either do not correspond or contradict the UN mandate,” the Russian ambassador stressed.
Botan-Kharchenko is sure that both now and in the past, the peacekeepers are capable of taking preventive measures, both militarily and politically, to prevent the Kosovo police forces from entering the territory of Northern Kosovo.
“But they prefer to remain bystanders, repeating all the time that everything is under control, and if necessary, they will intervene. This is just hypocrisy and deceit. They are also participants in pandering to Pristina,” he added.
On December 10, Kosovo police officer Dejan Pantic was arrested. This ethnic Serb, along with several colleagues, refused to continue serving in the Kosovo police. After that, in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, Serbs dissatisfied with the arrest of Pantic began to build barricades. Three shootings were also recorded in the region.
On December 11, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić convened a meeting of the National Security Council in connection with the actions of the Prime Minister of Kosovo. Vučić said that Serbia would send a request for the deployment of state security forces in Kosovo under paragraph 4 of UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
At the same time, the head of the German Foreign Ministry, Annalena Berbock, called unacceptable the sending of Serbian special forces to the territory of Kosovo. She also expressed support for the European Union Special Mission to Kosovo.
In 2008, the Kosovo Albanian structures in Pristina declared independence from Serbia. According to the Serbian constitution, the territory of the unrecognized state is an autonomous province of Kosovo and Metohija within the country. The Republic of Kosovo is not recognized by dozens of countries, including Russia.
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