The government of Kosovo in a response to the Voice of America denied any suggestion “that the news about the end of the mandate of (the US envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel) Escobar came from the government of the Republic of Kosovo”.

On Wednesday, Escobar said the weekend articles about his “firing” are “disinformation” produced by “a so-called journalist” and the reports came after contacted governments in the region to discuss his transition to another assignment at the US State Department after his term ends.

“This report came out shortly after I communicated with the government of Kosovo,” said Escobar.

However, the government of Kosovo denied “any suggestion” that the news came from it, writes VOA.

Over the weekend, the founder of the little-known digital platform ‘Frontliner’, Vedat Xhymshiti, wrote that diplomat Escobar has left office because of his family’s financial ties to Serbian state institutions, respectively of Mr. Escobar’s wife with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia as well as a legal contract between the Republic of Serbia and the American law office McGinnis Lochridge in 2019, where according to Xhymshit the partner is a family member of Escobar.

“I want to say directly that everything in that report is a lie and provably a lie,” Escobar said.

“We do not have any contact with the journalist in question, with whom we do not share a position regarding his claims regarding the emissary Escobar”, says a response from the government of Kosovo to the Voice of America.

Earlier in the week, the US State Department told VOA that Deputy Assistant Secretary Escobar has not been fired, but will move in the coming weeks to another job in the US diplomatic service, as part of a long-planned rotation.