Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC Briefing on Kosovo
Mr.President,
We are grateful to UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative Peter Due for his briefing on the situation in the province and for his insights. We welcome the participation of Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Đurić. We have listened to the views of Mr. Glauk Konjufca.
The situation in Kosovo continues to deteriorate steadily. The ultra-nationalist “regime” of so-called “Prime Minister” Albin Kurti is spurring ethnic cleansing of non-Albanian population in the northern part of the province. The methods remain the same: economic strangulation; expansion of the network of police stations in northern municipalities; violence by Kosovar security forces and intimidation campaigns against civilians; criminal prosecution of Serbs on trumped-up charges with the view to seizing their property.
Another clear manifestation of Albanian nationalism in Kosovo is the so-called “Law on Foreigners” and “Law on Vehicles.” In essence, Serbs have been faced with a harsh choice: either accept so-called “Kosovo citizenship” or flee. Pristina did make a concession regarding the operation of Serbian medical and educational institutions: the enforcement of discriminatory “laws” vis-à-vis those institutions was postponed. But this concession was purely symbolic in nature, and it is by no means can be considered as an accomplishment of the EU – as Special Representative Mr. Peter Sorensen try to put it – but rather as an attempt to cover up complicity in the incremental takeover of the structures that may ensure the survival of the region’s Serbian population.
When it comes to the establishment of the Community of Serb Majority Municipalities in Kosovo provided for in the 2013 Brussels Agreement, Pristina, with the connivance of Brussels, tend to persistently sabotage it.
The shameless assault on Serbia’s cultural and religious heritage is in full swing. Orthodox cemeteries, monasteries, and churches are being desecrated and looted. Since 1999, more than 60 such sites have been vandalized, with nearly half of them completely destroyed. Since 2000, 400 Orthodox cemeteries have been desecrated, 50 have been destroyed, and more than 100,000 gravestones have been smashed. In an attempt to erase the Serbian presence, Kosovo Albanian pseudo-scholars are falsifying the history of the province. But they cannot erase the historical fact that Kosovo is the cradle of Serbian national identity and the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Furthermore, the fundamental rights of Serbian political representatives are also being violated. Suffice it to mention the fraudulent schemes by the so-called “Central Election Commission of Kosovo” vis-à-vis the Serb List party during the so-called “parliamentary” elections.
In addition to the lawlessness just described, Pristina is exploring opportunities to deploy Kosovo Security Force (KSF) in the north of the province. The recorded appearance there in October 2025 of a KSF military convoy, allegedly by mistake, was yet another demonstrative attempt by local authorities to rid themselves of the obligation to coordinate their actions with the command of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR).
There have been more frequent attacks by unidentified Kosovo Albanians wearing masks on Serbian police patrols in the ground safety zone along the administrative boundary with central Serbia. In this context, we are particularly alarmed by the media reports about Mr. Kurti’s attempts to persuade Western partners to support his idea of withdrawing NATO’s Kosovo Force from this buffer zone, even though KFOR remains the only legitimate military formation in the province, as per Kumanovo Agreement and Security Council Resolution 1244. We are convinced that replacing the international presence with Pristina’s military forces is liable to bring about a serious deterioration of the security situation. This must not be allowed.
What should also be noted is that the Kosovo Albanians responsible for the assault on May 28, 2019, against Mikhail Krasnoshchekov, an employee of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), have still not been held accountable. Furthermore, on December 31, 2021, in violation of established international legal norms, Pristina declared another UNMIK staff member, Andrei Antonov, persona non grata.
At the same time, Mr. Kurti’s team is systematically glorifying war criminals, namely the former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). To honor them, rallies are being held, the Pristina parliament is passing resolutions, and thematic events featuring KLA symbols are being organized even in kindergartens. The EU invariably turns a blind eye to this, even though the aforementioned Kosovar military leaders are currently on trial in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity; their cases are being heard in a special court established under the leading role of the EU.
Moreover, Western capitals continue to condone Pristina in its efforts to coerce the Serbian authorities to resolve the Kosovo issue purely on Pristina’s terms; they are also helping consolidate the province’s “state sovereignty,” and create and arm its own so-called “army,” which Kosovo Albanians are barred from having as per UN Security Council Resolution 1244. NATO members are not standing idly by either. There are plans to launch ammunition production in the province by the end of this year, which is to be done in cooperation with some NATO countries. Cooperation within the openly anti-Serbian Zagreb-Tirana-Pristina military alliance is also gaining momentum. Such accelerated militarization of Kosovo generates a serious threat of escalation in the Balkans.
Against this backdrop, the optimistic assessments in the Secretary-General’s report regarding the EU’s mediating role in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue are indeed perplexing. It is obvious that the Brussels negotiation format, just like the EU acting as a mediator, has utterly discredited itself and has long since had nothing to do with normalization. And such blatant duplicity on the part of Western “mediators” needs to be properly assessed by the Security Council.
Given the uninterrupted chain of violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 by the so-called “authorities” of Kosovo and their Western patrons who condone such actions, there is a growing need for a thorough analysis of this document, which remains the cornerstone of the architecture of the stability architecture in the Balkans. What is needed here is a clear signal from the Security Council that the international community will not tolerate violations of Resolution 1244, which stipulates that the autonomous province of Kosovo and Metohija is a constituent part of the Republic of Serbia.
For our part, we will continue to assist Belgrade in upholding its legitimate rights and interests regarding Kosovo and Metohija, and in safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. We will only accept a solution that would be agreeable to the Serbs themselves.
Mr. President,
Under these challenging circumstances, it is unacceptable to reduce the frequency or to change the format of UN Security Council meetings on Kosovo, nor is it acceptable to cut funding and staffing for UNMIK, which continues to perform the essential task of contributing to the maintenance of stability in the province.
Thank you.
