"This incident is another link in the chain of crimes against the Serbian community of Kosovo," Yakovenko emphasized. He said that it was utterly important to prevent the incident to be used as a pretext for another wave of ethnic tensions in the region. "The leaders of the Kosovo Albanian community are also responsible for this," he said.
"We definitely condemn acts of violence against Serbian population and insist that the UN Mission and KFOR enforce urgent and efficient measures to bring about law and order," Yakovenko went on, "everybody knows what these measures should be. There should be collection of weapons from the local residents, disbandment of militants' structures, and tough measures against those who participated in violence against the Serbs and those who were behind it."
He recalled that recently (in late March) there had been another outburst of violence in Kosovo, which in fact had resulted in ethnic cleansing of Serbs. "Russia condemned terrorism and insisted that international institutions [present there] and Kosovo's local government take urgent measures to normalize the situation and eliminate the roots of Albanian terrorism. However, we have not been heard," he emphasized.
He said that both March events and the latest tragedy show how deep ethnic hatred is in that society. "To overcome [that hatred] will take many years. We are sure that the only way to bring about trust in the region is consistent and full implementation of Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council," Yakovenko said.
"As long as there are grounds for ethnic hatred in Kosovo, as long as armed extremists kill innocent people, there is no sense in talking about high democratic standards, let alone terms for their implementation," the official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
