The US State Department has called on Serbia to immediately release the three Kosovo policemen Pristina said were kidnapped on Wednesday, also asking that both sides move to de-escalate tensions.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the police officers were near an illegal smuggling route 300 metres inside the border of Kosovo when Serbian forces kidnapped them as revenge for the arrest of an ethnic Serb for allegedly organising the violence which injured more than 30 NATO troops, plus journalists and police on 29 May.
A Kosovo police report said the officers were on duty at a static checkpoint to prevent the use of illegal roads previously used for illegal border crossings and smugglings. They say the officers informed them they had spotted masked and armed persons and requested backup. Upon arrival at the scene, the backup units found the officer’s vehicle but not the officers.
In a statement, the US said that Serbia must “immediately and unconditionally release the three Kosovo policemen detained by Serbia” and “We believe that Kosovo and Serbia should take immediate steps to reduce tensions.”
Serbia, however, denies Kosovo’s claim that the officers were kidnapped “deep within Kosovo”. Belgrade, which does not recognise Kosovo’s border and instead calls it an “administrative line”, denies the kidnapping and says the officers were apprehended in Serbia.
Kosovo rapporteur in European Parliament, Vioa Von Crammon, condemned Serbia’s actions, stating that autocrats within Serbia are looking for ways to divert attention from ongoing anti-government protests.
“What do autocrats do when they are under pressure at home? They look for ways and means to divert attention from problems at home. A classic case of this seems to be yesterday’s incident on the border between Kosovo and Serbia,” she wrote.
The EU’s Special Representative for the Prishtina-Belgrade dialogue, Miroslav Lajçak, stated in an interview for Euronews Albania that they do not want another Ukraine, referring here to the war there, while emphasising that they are working intensively to calm the situation in Kosovo.
“Let’s wait for NATO to tell us what happened and where it happened. We want to clarify the facts. We don’t want to make decisions without knowing all the facts. On the contrary, we are doing everything to prevent another Ukraine from happening. For this reason, we are promoting the normalisation process. Normalisation is the opposite of Ukraine.,” he said, noting he is waiting for information on the incident from KFOR.
Kurti said in parliament that it is unquestionably a kidnapping, not an arrest, as Serbia claims.
“The operatives were not part of the elite units as Serbia is trying to present. The fact that internationals are mobilising for their release shows that everyone knows that the abduction occurred in our territory, otherwise, no one would talk about their release. This is aggression against our republic and KFOR. We will respond to such reprisals with law and order. There is neither going back nor submitting,” he said.
The prime minister also visited the families of the police officers and reassured them that they were doing their best to find out where they were being kept and to ensure their release.
Kurti also called out KFOR, the NATO peacekeeping force, for not giving any information or public statement on the incident, despite it being their job to prevent such incidents.
“KFOR was at the scene, where traces of foreign shoes and handcuffs were found. What surprises me is that even the next day, with these facts that happened, KFOR does not appear. Why does KFOR not come out with an official explanation?” he said.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Twitter KFOR will not come out with a public statement on the matter, that all parties are focussed on the officers’ release, and that the priority remains Kosovo fulfilling all the requests made by the EU and US.
Meanwhile, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said Thursday he would invite representatives of Kosovo and Serbia to Brussels next week.
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
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