Ethnic violence in Kosovo plays into the Kremlin’s hands
In this edition, a fragile peace is being tested in the Balkans.
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THE STORY
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy was the star of a European summit in the Moldovan capital Chisinau, praising the “powerful support” he had received from Ukraine’s allies. Elsewhere on the sidelines of the same conference, a rather more fraught conversation was taking place between the presidents of Kosovo and Serbia, under the concerned supervision of the leaders of France and Germany.
On May 26, ethnic tensions in northern Kosovo flared into days of violence, leading to 30 NATO peacekeepers being injured. NATO has now said it will send 700 more troops to add to its already 4,000-strong force in Kosovo. And Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic moved soldiers closer to the border and put the Serbian army on combat alert.