Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova answers a media question in connection with the worsening crisis in Kosovo

Question: What can you tell us about the latest developments in Kosovo, where the situation continues to worsen?

Maria Zakharova: For 17 days now, the Serbs have remained at the barricades they built in northern Kosovo in protest of the arrest of a former member of the local “police,” ethnic Serb Dejan Pantic by the Kosovars. This legitimate form of peaceful and non-violent resistance to repeated acts of intimidation and discrimination on ethnic grounds has triggered a furious reaction from the Kosovo Albanian “authorities.” They are threatening to use force to remove the barricades with heavy equipment. Lists with names of Serbs accused of being involved in “terrorism,” which include President of Serbia Alexandar Vucic’s family, have been leaked into the public domain.

The NATO and EU contingents deployed in the region cannot and do not want to use their influence with regard to what is happening there. Just like during the bloody anti-Serb crackdowns of 2004, they play the part of observers and turn a blind eye to escalation thus emboldening Albin Kurti in his plan to cleanse Kosovo from non-Albanians. The United States and the EU continue talking down to the Serbs and occasionally go as far in their arrogance as to issue instructions to them.  High Representative of the EU Josep Borrell brazenly ordering the Serbs to immediately remove the barricades is a typical example of such behaviour. Brussels openly playing into the hands of the Kosovars is beyond every imaginable limit of cynicism.

The constant pressure on the part of the EU and leading EU member states on the Kosovo Serbs is in stark contrast with their deathly silence on Pristina disregarding its commitment to create a Community of Serbian Municipalities in the province. The EU is deliberately destroying the relevant Brussels agreements achieved in 2013, turning a blind eye to the many years of the Kosovars sabotaging these agreements and receiving all kinds of benefits whether in the form of liberalising visa regulations or a favourable acceptance for consideration of an application for EU membership submitted by the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo.

If anyone is really striving for peace, firm adherence to international legal foundations is a key condition for a Kosovo settlement. Attempts to undermine or ignore fundamental UN Security Council Resolution 1244 provisions are untenable. The new flare-up in the province clearly shows that failure to comply with the applicable regulatory framework for Kosovo is only making the Pristina radicals want more, which makes an actual large-scale conflict a not so distant possibility.