Kosovo must suspend all police operations in the municipal buildings in the northern municipalities of the country.<\/p>\n
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell spoke to journalists in Brussel this Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EU strongly condemns the violence in northern Kosovo, which we have seen these past few days. Acts of violence towards citizens, media, law enforcement and KFOR are unacceptable. We, as EU, stand behind NATO and KFOR in fulfilling its mandate in the interest of peace and stability in Kosovo,\u201d Borrell told journalists.<\/p>\n
The High Representative added he had spoken to both Kosovo\u2019s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbia\u2019s President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 and invited them \u201cto clarify the situation, immediately and unconditionally\u201d.<\/p>\n
Borrell also emphasized that the EU expects parties to engage in dialogue and pave the way for the implementation of the Agreement towards normalization of relations.<\/p>\n
Earlier, EU Spokesperson Peter Stano said that both Pristina and Belgrade are responsible for the violent acts in the north of Kosovo.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen the situation escalate since Friday, which is why Borrel and EU member states have condemned the violence and have made calls for the de-escalation of the situation. This did not happen by its own, but is a consequence of conditions and developments, of which both parties are responsible,\u201d Stano told journalists in Brussel.<\/p>\n
Asked if this situation means that the EU-led dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia has failed, Stano said: \u201cNo, the dialogue is ongoing, there are increased efforts and the dialogue is more important than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the matter, the Russian Foreign Ministry called for \u201cdecisive steps\u201d to be undertaken in order to reduce tensions in Kosovo.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe call on the West to finally silence its false propaganda and stop blaming incidents in Kosovo in Serbs driven to despair, who are peaceful, unarmed, trying to defend their legitimate rights and freedoms,\u201d Russia\u2019s Foreign Ministry said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, China expressed its support for Serbia in \u201cprotecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity\u201d, following clashes between Serb protesters in Zve\u010dan and NATO peacekeeping forces.<\/p>\n
The ruling Communist Party has long criticized the NATO alliance and disputes with KFOR partly stem from the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, during the alliance\u2019s air campaign in 1999, which ended the war in Kosovo.<\/p>\n
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning blamed \u201cunilateral actions of the temporary self-governing institutions\u201d, referring to the Government of Kosovo.<\/p>\n
For the second day in a row, Serbs are protesting in Zve\u010dan, Leposavi\u0107 and Zubin Potok, opposing the new Albanian mayors elected on April 23rd<\/sup>.<\/p>\n Despite the fact that the Serbs boycotted the local elections and are trying to prevent the new Albanian mayors from exercising their functions, Mao said that the Serbs must be offered control over municipalities where they are the majority.<\/p>\n During Monday\u2019s protests, 30 KFOR soldiers were injured following clashes with Serbian protesters. Three soldiers of the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo even sustained gunshot wounds. A team of military doctors traveled from Hungary to Kosovo, to take care of and return the Hungarian KFOR soldiers back home, as 19 of them were injured during riots.<\/p>\n \u201cWe call on NATO to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state and do what is actually favorable to regional peace,\u201d Mao said during a press conference in Beijing.<\/p>\n The area\u2019s majority Serbs have never accepted Kosovo\u2019s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia, and consider Belgrade their capital more than two decades after the Kosovo Albanian uprising against the repressive Serbian rule.<\/p>\n Ethnic Albanians make up more than 90% of the population in Kosovo as a whole, but northern Serbs have long demanded the implementation of an EU-brokered 2013 agreement for the creation of an Association of Serb municipalities in their area.<\/p>\n Serbs refused to take part in the April local elections, where Albanian candidates won the mayoralties in the four Serb-majority municipalities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kosovo must suspend all police operations in the municipal buildings in the northern municipalities of the country. The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell spoke to journalists in Brussel this Tuesday. \u201cThe EU strongly condemns the violence in northern Kosovo, which we have seen these past few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":54233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[865,932,308,817,300,1929,150,243,151,791,284,301,749],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n