MOSCOW, December 27. /TASS/. The situation around Kosovo is developing under a very dangerous scenario, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said on Tuesday.
"Indeed, the situation is heating up and is developing according to a very dangerous scenario. Any kind of provocation could occur," he said in an interview with the Zvezda television channel.
According to the Russian diplomat, Serbia and the unrecognized republic of Kosovo are in a state of open confrontation. "Pristina is increasing its armed presence and, of course, the task which is set before Pristina and which is allowed by the West, namely putting Serb-populated areas of Kosovo under control, is being carried out," he said.
The situation in Kosovo
Earlier on Tuesday, Kosovo Serbs built more barricades near Kosovska Mitrovica after Kosovo said it had put its security forces on high alert, Serbia’s Vecernje Novosti daily reported.
The situation in Kosovo was aggravated dramatically on December 6, when the Kosovo police along with EULEX (European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo) patrols began to seize premises housing electoral commissions in northern Kosovo and Metohija. Local Serbs repelled the Kosovars, who fled across the Ibar River. Two days later, on December 8, around 350 Kosovo policemen in armored cars intruded into the Serb-inhabited northern Kosovo and blocked the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica. On December 10, the Kosovo police detained Dejan Pantic, a former Serbian policeman, on dubious charges. In response, the Serb population erected barricades along a highway in several locations and took to the streets in protest.
In an interview with The Guardian, Prime Minister of the unrecognized republic of Kosovo Albin Kurti said that the barricades in northern Kosovo must be removed as soon as possible, but their removal cannot rule out the possibility of casualties.