DASH rejects the claims of the dismissal of the envoy Escobar

2024-05-06 20:27:06, Kosova & Bota CNA

DASH rejects the claims of the dismissal of the envoy Escobar

Gabriel Escobar

A spokesperson for the US State Department told VOA that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar has not been fired, but will be moving in the coming weeks to another assignment in the US diplomatic service as part of a planned rotation. since time.

"Deputy Assistant Secretary Gabriel Escobar has not been discharged from his duties. All career diplomats rotate posts every four years as part of a regular practice,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The reaction of the State Department comes after the publication on the little-known digital platform "Frontliner", by Vedat Xhymshiti, self-identified as a journalist, where he claims that the envoy Escobar has been dismissed from the position of the envoy for the Western Balkans due to, as claimed in the article, the conflict of interest that compromises his position as a neutral mediator in the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo.

In a statement to the Voice of America, DASH's spokesperson rejects Mr. Xhymshiti's claims "as easily verifiable false claims."

In his posts on the X network and his writings, Mr. Xhymshiti claims that the American diplomat Escobar has left his post as special envoy for the Western Balkans because of his family's financial ties to Serbian state institutions, namely Mr. Escobar with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia as well as a legal contract between the Republic of Serbia and the American law office McGinnis Lochridge in 2019, where according to Xymshiti, the partner is a family member of Mr. Escobar.

The State Department dismissed these claims as false.

"Vudi Xhymshiti has recently made a number of statements on the Internet about Mr. Escobar which are verifiable as false. Despite Mr. Xhymshiti's claims, Mr. Escobar's wife has never received funds from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and Mr. Escobar has no family connection with the so-called partner of the law firm in Texas, McGinnis Lochridge LLP," DASH said in a statement. .

"It is irresponsible to publish such lies. We urge journalists to verify the facts before spreading offensive and baseless rumors," the State Department spokesperson said in a statement.

Disinformation, the statement added, poses an extraordinary threat to democratic societies.

"They poison social discourse, deepen divisions and pose a threat to the national security of the United States, our allies and partners," the statement said.

The spokesperson emphasizes that the US Department of State "strongly supports the EU-facilitated dialogue as the way to establish peaceful and productive relations between Kosovo and Serbia". Washington is in the same line with the European partners and will continue to play an active role in supporting the dialogue, concludes the announcement of the DASH spokesperson.