Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo have reportedly attacked a large number of NATO troops in the country, spray-painting pro-Russian ‘Z’ symbols on military vehicles.
Tensions in Kosovo appear to have escalated yet again, with ethnic Serbs allegedly said to have attacked a large number of NATO peacekeeping troops in the country with explosives and incendiary devices.
At least 30 Hungarian and Italian troops are said to have been injured in the fighting, with the ethnic Serbs also said to have spray-painted pro-Russian “Z” symbols onto Western military vehicles.
According to a report by POLITICO, the troops were said to have been deployed to deal with riots in Northern Kosovo when they were subject to what is described as an “unprovoked” attack at the hands of the ethnic Serbs, who do not recognise Kosovo as being a real country.
#KFOR statement pic.twitter.com/kfYybyqC2G
— NATO Kosovo Force – KFOR (@NATO_KFOR) May 29, 2023
“While countering the most active fringes of the crowd, several soldiers of the Italian and Hungarian [peacekeeping] contingent were the subject of unprovoked attacks and sustained trauma wounds with fractures and burns due to the explosion of incendiary devices,” a statement from NATO’s peacekeeping Kosovo Force read.
A later statement from the organisation put the number of injured soldiers at around 30, though statements made by officials in Hungary appear to indicate that this county may end up rising.
Serbian Troops Put on Highest Alert After Ethnic Clashes in Kosovohttps://t.co/xoAnOZw3sk
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 27, 2023
The centre of decades-long ethnic tensions, Kosovo is still largely not recognised by many ethnic Serbs residing within the Balkans, with even those living in the country itself still seeing Serbia’s Belgrade, not Pristina, as the legitimate seat of power in the region.
Such hostilities flow both ways, with the ethnic Albanian majority in the country installing their own as senior officials in the northern part of the country, despite the fact that it is overwhelmingly occupied by dissident Serbs.
According to a report by The Telegraph, the installation of effectively alien administrators in the region sparked Monday’s riots, with the installation of ethnically Albanian mayors in the North greatly angering local Serbs.
🎥 Dhunë, të shtëna e gaz lotsjellës pas intervenimit të KFOR-it
Disa pjesëtarë të lënduar të KFOR-it janë parë në rrugë të Zveçanit pas intervenimit për t’i shpërndarë protestuesit serbë në Zveçan.
©️ Arben Hoti/REL
🔗https://t.co/xqZrgCQlBg pic.twitter.com/fEzbN1FhLz
— Radio Evropa e Lirë (@evropaelire) May 29, 2023
Both sides have proceeded to blame the other for the violence, with Kosovan Prime Minister Albin Kurti lashing out at “ultra-nationalistic” elements within the Serb population on Twitter while senior Serb politician Igor Simic blamed Kurti for the incident.
“We are interested in peace,” Simic remarked. “Albanians who live here are interested in peace, and only he (Kurti) wants to make chaos.”
Kosovo’s President, Vjosa Osmani, has meanwhile blamed Serbia itself for the violence, accusing her opposite number in Belgrade, Aleksandar Vucic, of trying to destabilise her country.
“Serb illegal structures turned into criminal gangs have attacked Kosovo police, KFOR (peacekeeping) officers & journalists,” she claimed. “hose who carry out Vucic’s orders to destabilise the north of Kosovo, must face justice.”
Serbia: We Will Save Kosovo Serbs from ‘Persecution and Pogroms’ If NATO Will Not https://t.co/9jNcFZdN3a
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 21, 2022