Russia should discuss with Pristina proposed deliveries of humanitarian aid to Kosovo, the independent province’s Prime Minister Hasim Taci said in an interview with the Zeri newspaper on Wednesday.
“Kosovo is an independent, sovereign state, and has its own legitimate institutions. Serbs are Kosovan nationals and form part of these legitimate democratic institutions. Therefore everything should go through these institutions as soon as agreements are reached,” Taci said. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia would provide humanitarian aid to crisis-hit Serb areas in Kosovo in line with a request from Serbia’s government. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the president earlier this week that Serbia had requested medicine, medical equipment, long-life foods and hygiene products.
Kosovo, with a 90% ethnic Albanian majority, has been recognized as a sovereign state by the United States, most European Union members, and several other countries since it proclaimed independence on February 17. Russia has sided with Belgrade, which says Kosovo will always remain a part of its territory. Serb-dominated areas account for about 15% of Kosovo’s territory. Belgrade proposed to the UN Security Council on Monday that Serbs take full control over the ethnic-Serb regions from UN peacekeepers. Tensions have escalated lately in Kosovo’s Serb regions as rioters clashed with peacekeepers last week in the city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, leaving one Ukrainian peacekeeper dead and injuring dozens of civilians and police officers.
Kosovo cries out for food & medicine, Russia Today
The need for humanitarian aid in Kosovo is growing, as violence intensifies in some parts. Help is especially needed around Kosovska Mitrovica, where the biggest anti-NATO demonstration occurred since Kosovo’s independence. Russia has already offered to help with food, medicine and medical equipment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says they’ll help anyone in Kosovo - regardless of nationality.
“We want to thank President Putin for his offer to assist,” said Milan Ivanovic, President of the Serb National Council, stressing once again that “Russia is the main factor why Kosovo will never become independent. Without a new UN resolution and without Kosovo’s chair in the UN, that state does not exist for us or for anybody else”.
In Mitrovica, care in the two hospitals is good, but problems emerge when ambulances and doctors need to travel to a patient.
Last week’s violent protests that killed one Ukrainian peacekeeper also destroyed one of the precious few ambulances in the city.
As well as ambulances, respirators, stethoscopes and other emergency equipment is desperately needed, says Dr Bojan Ilic who’s the Head of Health Centre in North Mitrovica.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister has dismissed Belgrade’s proposal to govern ethnic Serb enclaves in the region.
For the local leaders there is only one option: “Kosovo is Serbia and Serbia is Kosovo”.
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