BELGRADE, December 27. /TASS/. The European Union has demonstrated an inability to achieve any results in the negotiation process on Kosovo, Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said in an interview with the Tanjug news agency on Tuesday.
"The EU’s inability to hold any productive negotiations that produce some kind of a result is a complete failure of the Brussels talks," the Russian diplomat noted. He also emphasized that Washington could exert "the pressure on Pristina that is needed right now" to suspend unilateral aggressive actions by the authorities of the unrecognized Kosovo, but its failure to act is giving it the "green light" instead.
The Russian ambassador also stressed that Pristina’s decision to ban Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia from entering Kosovo before Christmas was unacceptable. "This is a move by which Pristina wants to ban or completely eliminate Orthodox and Serbian churches in Kosovo and Metohija," the diplomat explained.
Earlier, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Milos Vucevic and Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic stated that Serbia’s armed forces and law enforcement had been put on full alert on orders from their Supreme Commander, President Aleksandar Vucic.
Previously, the authorities of the unrecognized Kosovo put their troops on full combat readiness. About 1,500 servicemen received orders to remain at their deployment sites or within reach in anticipation of a possible maneuver at night. Afterwards, Vucic vowed to protect the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, noting that he "would do everything to preserve peace and stability."
On December 25, the ambassadors of the UK, Germany, Italy, the US and France demanded that the Serbian president remove the barricades erected in northern Kosovo and Metohija within 24 hours. The diplomats sent a letter with this ultimatum to the Serbian leader threatening that otherwise they would not hinder attempts by Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti to resolve the situation on his own. Kurti stressed that the dismantling of the barricades in northern Kosovo "does not rule out the possibility of casualties.".