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Murphy calls for "aggressive engagement" of the US in the Balkans

2023-06-02 09:09:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Murphy calls for "aggressive engagement" of the US in the Balkans

Chris Murphy

The member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US Senate, Chris Murphy, said that the United States should engage "aggressively" in the Balkans and blamed the Kosovo authorities for the current tensions in the north of the country.

"We have to engage aggressively in the Balkans to protect the peace, because right now we can't afford to put out real fires in that region," Murphy said in an interview with the National Journal, after returning to Washington from a Balkan tour. Balkan Service of Radio Free Europe.

Tensions in the north of Kosovo are high, since the Kosovo Police helped the Albanian mayors of three municipalities with a Serbian majority - Zveçan, Zubin Potok and Leposaviq - to enter the municipal buildings, on May 26, despite the resistance of local residents.

Their revolt turned into a violent clash with members of the NATO mission, KFOR, on May 29.

The American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, blamed the Government of Kosovo for the actions that led to "escalating tensions in the north and increasing instability".

Murphy, who met with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Pristina on May 22, agreed with Blinken that the situation could have been resolved through diplomacy rather than force.

"He shouldn't have moved so quickly with the decision to take those [municipal] buildings," Murphy said.

"He could wait and try to resolve this through mediators like the United States," the US senator said.

This situation, according to him, gave Russia the opportunity to incite unrest.

"Russia plays games in the Balkans. It tries to foment discord and conflict. She hopes that there will be conflict in the Balkans, a real kinetic conflict that would take the United States and Europe away from the conflict in Ukraine," said Murphy.

Murphy said he hopes that when the situation in northern Kosovo calms down, people will turn their attention to the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement for the normalization of relations between Pristina and Belgrade.

A day earlier, Prime Minister Kurti announced that he spoke with the US Deputy National Security Adviser, Jon Finer, and Senators Chris Murphy, Pete Ricketts and Jeanne Shaheen, where, according to him, he emphasized the commitment "to work with the US to reduced tensions" in the north of Kosovo.

"This [de-escalation] requires an immediate end to Belgrade-sponsored mob violence against security officials until new elections in those municipalities," Kurti's tweet said.

International efforts to reduce tensions in Kosovo intensified, while Serbs continue protests in the northern part of the country against Albanian mayors of municipalities.

Their demands are that these mayors, after the April 23 elections, withdraw from the municipalities with a Serbian majority, as well as the special units of the Kosovo Police.

During an address on May 31, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, rejected them, but left open the possibility of new local elections./ Rel