Petkovic sent a letter to international missions in Kosovo and Sorensen: The spiral of violence against Serbs must be stopped

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, sent a letter to all relevant international missions operating in Kosovo, as well as to the EU Envoy in the Belgrade–Pristina dialogue, Peter Sorensen, to inform them about Pristina’s latest move – the closure of several Serbian institutions in Leposavic and Strpce yesterday, and to urge them to stop the violence against Serbs, RTV reports.

In the letter, Petkovic calls on them to urgently take the necessary steps to halt the spiral of violence against Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and to ensure that Pristina de-escalates the situation on the ground.

Petkovic warned that such actions by Pristina follow “a well-established pattern of sabotaging the normalization process, which Pristina resorts to whenever it is unable to use its other favorite method – obstructing the dialogue through mere presence.”

“It is clear that the regime in Pristina, through these absurd actions, is trying to divert public attention from the deep political crisis and to cover up the fact that, despite all the pressure and manipulation, it has been unable, nearly three months after the elections, to form a government. The persecution of employees and the closure of the Republic Fund for Pension and Disability Insurance, the Health Insurance Institute, the National Employment Service, and Kopaonik Put in Leposavic, along with the raid on the premises of the New Public Utility Company in Strpce, are aimed at implementing a policy of ethnically motivated persecution of Serbs and other non-Albanians. This is being done by creating and maintaining unbearable living conditions, including the closure of as many as 110 institutions,” Petkovic stated in the letter, which Tanjug had access to.

He emphasized that the closed institutions employed more than 60 people who served over 11,000 direct or indirect users, without any form of discrimination.

“Resorting to extremism and violence – including the symbolic choice of the date of the attack, a hallmark of Self-Determination Movement – makes it unsurprising that the anniversary of the illegal election of Albanian mayors in the four Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo and Metohija was chosen as the date for this action,” Petkovic concluded.