The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Serbia's Prime Minister Brnabic attacks Baerbock over the Kosovo conflict - "absurdity" and "double standards"

2022-12-13T13:58:53.504Z


Serbia's Prime Minister Brnabic attacks Baerbock over the Kosovo conflict - "absurdity" and "double standards" Created: 2022-12-13 2:52 p.m By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic. (Archive image) © IMAGO/Thomas Imo The situation between Serbia and Kosovo threatens to escalate further. Meanwhile, Belgrade is outraged by


Serbia's Prime Minister Brnabic attacks Baerbock over the Kosovo conflict - "absurdity" and "double standards"

Created: 2022-12-13 2:52 p.m

By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.

(Archive image) © IMAGO/Thomas Imo

The situation between Serbia and Kosovo threatens to escalate further.

Meanwhile, Belgrade is outraged by statements by Federal Foreign Minister Baerbock.

Munich – After the Ukraine war, the next major conflict threatens to break out in the middle of Europe.

Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo are spiraling out of control, with Serbia already talking of sending troops south.

The country relies on UN Resolution 1244 from 1999.

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) recently opposed the invasion of Serbian troops in Kosovo.

For this she has now received sharp criticism from Belgrade and is being confronted with accusations of "absurdity" and "double standards".

Serbia-Kosovo conflict: sending soldiers?

– Baerbock sees “unacceptable” proposal

The arrest of a Serbian ex-cop in Kosovo significantly increased tensions in the region.

On Sunday (December 11), Serbian President Alexander Vucic announced that his country would apply to NATO for permission to send Serbian troops to the area.

At the same time, however, he emphasized that the alliance would most likely not allow this.

If Vucic's plan works, it could exacerbate the already tense situation.

In the midst of the conflict, Baerbock spoke up on Twitter.

With the postponement of the local elections, Kosovo defused the situation.

However, statements from Serbia had the opposite effect, according to the minister.

The Green politician described the proposal to send Serbian military units to Kosovo as "unacceptable".

Serbia-Kosovo conflict: Belgrade outraged about Berlin - "What kind of double standard is that?"

Belgrade reacted with outrage to Baerbock's comment.

"What is acceptable?" asked Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, according to the daily

Dnevnik

.

The Serbian politician emphasized that the most recent announcement by the G7 states stated that the resolutions of the United Nations should be adhered to when solving crises.

In the current conflict with Kosovo, however, the German foreign office is now saying "surprisingly" that Resolution 1244 does not apply.

"On the basis of which criteria is it decided which resolutions of the UN Security Council must be respected and which must not?" the daily newspaper

Novosti

quoted the prime minister as saying.

In the case of Libya, Resolution 2571 is respected, but in the case of Serbia, the corresponding resolution suddenly had to be ignored, Brnabic accused.

"That's a frightening level of absurdity," she emphasized and, according to

Dnevnik

, went one better: "What kind of double standard is that?"

UN Resolution 1244

The resolution was passed on June 10, 1999.

After the withdrawal of all "military, police and paramilitary forces from Kosovo", "an agreed number of (Yugoslav) and Serbian military and police personnel" may return to the region.

However, NATO must decide when troops might return.

According to the resolution, it is about “marking and clearing minefields” and “maintaining a presence at Serbian cultural heritage sites”.

It is also said that not thousands, but only hundreds of soldiers should be sent.

Given the current tensions and the desire to send soldiers to Kosovo, Serbia invokes the resolution.

Since Kosovo's declaration of independence in 2008, however, there has been debate as to whether the resolution is still valid in view of the new political reality.

Doubts are likely to arise as to whether Serbia can invoke the resolution.

The Serbian ex-Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic recently emphasized to the news portal

Kosovo Online

that there is no time limit for United Nations resolutions.

Serbia-Kosovo conflict: Brnabic also with accusations against NATO and the EU

Brnabic criticized that the EU also failed to react to the "terrible situation" in Kosovo for the Serbian population.

"Armed to the teeth" Kosovo security forces are invading Serb communities and provoking citizens, the prime minister claimed, accusing her Kosovan counterpart Albin Kurti of violating the 2013 Brussels Accords.

The agreement initiated a normalization of relations.

also read

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: Relegation from respected diplomat to pariah by Putin's grace

READ

Serbian military convoy is apparently rolling towards Kosovo – there is a risk of escalation in the middle of Europe

READ

Medvedev threatens the West with "the most powerful weapons of destruction" - Zelenskyj sets a condition for the peace plan

READ

Selenskyj tells a nasty war joke - at the expense of Putin and NATO

READ

Large-scale raid against climate glue: spokeswoman for the “Last Generation” reports on “scary” searches

READ

Fancy a journey of discovery?

My space

Despite the violation of the agreement and the "arrest, mistreatment and conviction of Serbs without evidence", there is no reaction from the EU.

Kosovo troops marched into the village of Gazowide, "abused" a man and "torn up flags," Brnabic claimed, according to

Dnevnik

.

However, neither NATO's KFOR force nor the EU have spoken out about the incident.

The Kosovan police responded to the allegations from Serbia in a press release.

Allegations that security authorities in Kosovo display "bad, rude and unfriendly behavior" towards Serbs are untrue.

The police treat all citizens in the region "without distinction" and also offer everyone security, the statement said.

Serbia-Kosovo conflict: reaction from Moscow - "sabotage"

Meanwhile, Moscow, like Belgrade, reacted dissatisfied to the Federal Foreign Minister's statements and accused the Green politicians of "sabotage".

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, accused Baerbock of provoking “chaos in Kosovo affairs”, according to the state agency TASS.

According to the diplomat, Serbia is right to point out that further negotiations are pointless.

After all, the West is ignoring both Resolution 1244 and the Brussels-Washington agreements, she claimed.

Zakharova went on to say that only a “genuine commitment” could give hope for an “effective dialogue with an acceptable result”.

She also accused the West of an "absurd attack on the international law foundations of the Kosovo settlement", with attempts being made to blame the Serbs for the tensions.

Russia has already pledged support to Serbia.

(bb)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-12-13

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z
News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.