White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby (archive)
John Kirby, coordinator of strategic communications at the National Security Council at the White House, said this evening, Friday, that “the White House urges Serbia to withdraw its forces from the border with Kosovo.”
Kirby added that Serbia and Kosovo must “fulfill their obligations and avoid taking provocative steps,” stressing that “the Kosovo peacekeeping force will work to increase the presence of NATO forces in northern Kosovo.”
Kirby also pointed out that “no one should buy Russian oil, in violation of the price ceiling.” He continued: “We still believe that setting a ceiling on oil prices on Russian exports is a useful and applicable tool.”
For its part, the British Ministry of Defense announced that it transferred “the command of the 1st Battalion, from the Prince of Wales’s Royal Regiment, to NATO, to provide support if necessary,” explaining that the reason was “the situation in Kosovo.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry had confirmed that “the attempts of the Prime Minister of Kosovo to escalate the situation and bring additional pressure from the West on the Serbian leadership, in order to force Belgrade to recognize Kosovo’s independence, are a continuous play with fire, and their cost is great, pushing the entire Balkans to the abyss.”
A few days ago, a policeman was killed and another wounded, in northern Kosovo, in an armed attack on a patrol near the border with Serbia, after the patrol was “attacked from various locations with heavy weapons, including hand grenades,” according to what the police said in a statement.
Hours later, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced that the authorities had surrounded at least 30 militants in northern Kosovo.
On the same day, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that 3 citizens were killed, and 2 other Kosovo Serbs were injured, in clashes with the police in the north of the region.
Tensions erupted between Serbia and Kosovo during the past months of this year, against the backdrop of local elections.
Kosovo, the former Serbian province that declared its independence in 2008, is witnessing repeated confrontations, and tensions continue there between the Kosovo government and the Serbs who live mainly in the north of the country and maintain close relations with Belgrade.
A conflict broke out in 1998-1999 in Kosovo, killing more than 10,000 people and displacing more than a million people.
Read also: NATO fires under the ashes of the crisis… The roots of the conflict in Kosovo
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2023-09-29 19:43:19
