Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 met with French President Emmanuel Macron Thursday on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Chi\u0219in\u0103u, Moldova.<\/p>\n
Both leaders discussed further steps to be taken in maintaining peace and stability throughout the Western Balkans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expressed my concerns over the latest escalation of violence in \u2018Kosovo and Metohija\u2019 and I thanked him for the stance and decisive support towards Serbia, in regards to the latest developments,\u201d said Vu\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n
President Macron said Wednesday that the authorities in Kosovo bear responsibility of the tensions in the northern municipalities of the country, where a majority of Serbs live.<\/p>\n
In a CNN interview Wednesday evening, Vu\u010di\u0107 said Serbia is pleased with the French President\u2019s declarations on the Kosovo crisis, as well as United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken who condemned Kosovo\u2019s actions, which are escalating tensions in the north and are increasing instability.<\/p>\n
Kosovo\u2019s Prime Minister on the other hand, said that this situation is the result of \u201carmed gangs, pretending to be protesters, but are in fact criminal mobs\u201d of Serbia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can of course envisage the reduction of the [presence of] Kosovo Police in the municipal building [in the north], when these criminal gangs of nationalism and extreme right chauvinism, which worship Milo\u0161evi\u0107 and Putin,\u201d said Kurti in an address to journalists.<\/p>\n
\u201cEither let them go to Serbia, or we must send them to prison. However, these is no way that we will not protect the assets and the buildings of the Republic from such mobs. When they leave, we will be able to reduce the presence,\u201d Kurti concluded.<\/p>\n
Ethnic Serbs continue protesting against the newly elected Albanian mayors in the northern municipalities of Kosovo.<\/p>\n
Tensions spiked on May 26th<\/sup> when the Kosovo Police assisted the mayors into their municipal offices, despite local Serbs\u2019 resistance.<\/p>\n 30 KFOR soldiers sustained injuries in the municipality of Zve\u010dan, as well as tens of protesters involved in violent clashes.<\/p>\n NATO said it is ready to deploy additional troops to Kosovo, while the Serbian Army remains at high-level combat readiness following orders from President Vu\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 met with French President Emmanuel Macron Thursday on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Chi\u0219in\u0103u, Moldova. Both leaders discussed further steps to be taken in maintaining peace and stability throughout the Western Balkans. \u201cI expressed my concerns over the latest escalation of violence in \u2018Kosovo and Metohija\u2019 and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":54482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[2471,1162,1098,150,243,151,383,1657,2203,301,2047,787],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n