Major General Angelo Michele Ristucia, commander of the NATO mission in Kosovo (KFOR), gave an interview to the Italian news agency AGI, where he analyzed the tense situation in the North.

Ristucia has stated that thanks to the professionalism of the KFOR troops, a massacre was avoided in the north of Kosovo.

“Thanks to the professionalism of our people, all the KFOR troops, who prepared in the most appropriate way and who implemented the rules of engagement in the most correct way, a massacre was avoided. We managed to disperse the crowd and rescue 15 trapped policemen”.

Also, he adds that the situation did not escalate as KFOR troops were well prepared to manage the situation.

“The reason why the situation did not escalate was the fact that we were very well prepared. Our soldiers acted very, very professionally. I wish to express my full support to our wounded and their families. They acted so professionally that they managed to keep the situation from escalating; that’s how we saved 15 Kosovo policemen, prevented the two sides from clashing, otherwise we would have had to deal with another completely different problem”, he said.

Also, Rustica added that KFOR is prepared to face any possible situation and for this reason additional troops have been deployed.

“We intend to face any kind of circumstances and for this we have received additional forces. We don’t react, we act; we are organized, trained and equipped to face all the challenges related to the performance of the task. For this, thanks to the preparation of our soldiers, we were able to prevent the situation from escalating further on May 29 and mourn the dead on the ground”, the commander repeated.

“I emphasize that most people demonstrated peacefully. This cowardly act of violence against our army was carried out by a small number of violent miscreants, where they used any means to do harm,” he said.