The Kremlin stated Wednesday Russia “supports” its ally Serbia amid the Balkan nation’s more and more strained relations with neighbouring Kosovo over latest shootings and blockades.
“Russia is very closely following what is happening and how the rights of the Serbs are ensured,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov advised reporters.
“We support Belgrade in all the actions that are being taken,” he stated.
Peskov added nonetheless that “Serbia is a sovereign country and it is fundamentally wrong to look for some kind of destructive influence of Russia here”.
According to Peskov, “Serbia is defending the rights of Serbs who live nearby in difficult conditions. Naturally they react harshly when these rights are violated.”
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, however Belgrade has refused to recognise it and inspired Kosovo’s 120,000 ethnic Serbs to defy Pristina’s authority — particularly within the north the place they make up the bulk.
President Aleksandar Vucic on Monday put Serbian armed forces on “the highest level” of alert and ordered the particular armed forces to be beefed up.
The orders from Vucic got here after military chief General Milan Mojsilovic was dispatched to the border with Kosovo on Sunday.
The Serbian military has been placed on a heightened state of alert over tensions with Kosovo a number of instances in recent times — the final time in November after claiming that a number of drones entered Serbian airspace from Kosovo.
On December 10, Serbs in northern Kosovo arrange barricades to protest in opposition to the arrest of an ex-policeman suspected of being concerned in assaults in opposition to ethnic Albanian law enforcement officials.
