(english / italiano / castellano)

* Kosovo: NATO removes roadblocks, Serbs erect new ones as tensions rise (27/9)

* 4 NATO Peacekeepers Wounded in Kosovo Border Fight (27/9)

* Lavrov urges compliance with UN resolution on Kosovo (27/9)

* KFOR fires at Serbs, seven injured (27/9)

* Belgrade breaks off talks with Kosovo to protest violence (28/9)

* Russia 'disappointed' with NATO's reluctance to discuss Kosovo (28/9)

* KFOR attacks Kosovo Serbs (28/9)

* NATO provoking another conflict in Balkans - Rogozin, Laughland (28/9)

* Russia calls for discussion on Kosovo (28/9)

* Ambassador demands investigation of NATO’s firing at Kosovan Serbs (28/9)

* US condemns [serb?!] violence in Kosovo (29/9)

* UN Security Council fails to agree on Northern Kosovo (29/9)

* Security Council again without common stance on Kosovo (29/9)

* KFOR starts demolishing alternative road (29/9)

=== 0: LINKS ===

Source of most following documents in english language is the Stop NATO e-mail list 
Archives and search engine:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/messages
Website and articles:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com

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VIDEO:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAd6r8c_gjU

DOKUMENTI:

http://www.beoforum.rs/deklaracije-beogradskog-foruma-za-svet-ravnopravnih/254-deklaracija-sabora-podrske-srpskom-narodu-na-kosovu-i-metohiji.html

http://www.beoforum.rs/saopstenja-beogradskog-foruma-za-svet-ravnopravnih/256-podrska-srpskom-narodu-na-kosovu-i-metohiji.html

FOTO:

http://picasaweb.google.com/110726448310205699773/SaborPodrskeSrpskomNaroduNaKosovuIMetohiji

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Shocking! KFOR shooting at Serb civilians in Kosovo and Metohia! 7 young serbian men heavily wounded so far! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Vr_O9dK5U

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The Serbian side, however, claims the attack was initiated by the KFOR peacekeepers. Eyewitnesses claim the troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets to try and disperse a crowd protesting at the Kosovar government's attempt to take over two border crossings in the north previously controlled by neighboring Serbia. According to Serb officials, at least 14 protesters were injured -- and doctors view their condition as "very serious".
According to Serbian-Canadian documentary filmmaker Boris Malagursky, KFOR's efforts did not stop with rubber bullets and tear gas.
"At the moment, German KFOR soldiers are putting barbed wire around entire Serbian communities, turning them essentially into ghettos," Malagursky told RT. "And the last time we saw German soldiers setting up barbed wire was during the World War II."
"NATO is not really contributing to the peaceful resolution of the problem," Malagursky argued. "They are simply pushing ahead with their interests in North Kosovo, which are mainly economic, while the Serbs are pushed to accept everything the international community thinks is important in regard to Kosovo."

Back in July, violence erupted when Kosovar authorities tried to take control of the border posts after Prime Minister Hashim Thaci ordered a trade ban on Serbia.
The conflict resulted in the death of a policeman. Now, neither side wants to take action for fear it could once again ignite tension.
Kosovo broke away from Serbia in 2008 with the support of the US and some EU countries. But Serbia and northern parts of Kosovo, as well as Russia, China and some other states, do not recognize its mandate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUaHC-4nk9I

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"Cuesta predecir si la situación va a empeorar. Aunque la OTAN sí tiene las manos manchadas de sangre al no abstenerse del uso de la fuerza desde su bombardeo a Serbia en 1999. Los conflictos muestran que no les importa demasiado el destino de los civiles desarmados en este enclave. Y a los serbios no les queda otra opción que seguir luchando por la mera existencia", opina el experto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCITy7Jp02A

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4oadff8xEY

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A song by Bob A. Feldman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG8ErIQqpko

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http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/anti-war-essays-poems-short-stories-and-novel-excerpts/

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Resistenza contro la NATO ed i suoi sgherri in Kosovo
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/7119

Barricate, scontri, manifestazioni in Kosovo (english / italiano)
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/7157

=== 1 ===

http://www.contropiano.org/it/component/k2/item/3721-kosovo-la-popolazione-serba-resiste-ai-militari-della-nato

di  Redazione Contropiano

Ai valichi di confine di Jarinje e Brnjak, nel Nord del Kosovo, la tensione resta altissima dopo gli scontri di martedì fra dimostranti serbi e militari della Nato nei quali sono rimasti feriti sette cittadini serbi e 4 soldati della Kfor. I militari hanno provato a smantellare l’ennesima barricata eretta dalla popolazione serba per protesta contro la presa di controllo da parte dei doganieri kosovari-albanesi, in luglio, dei due posti di frontiera nel Nord, ma i serbi hanno resistito, contrattaccato e provato a «bypassare» la dogana albanese pur di non riconoscere le autorità kosovare sui confini, realizzando un valico alternativo. Sul ponte Cambronne i militari tedeschi della Nato hanno blindato il ponte con tanto di cecchini e postazioni di mitragliatrici.

=== 2: NEWS ===

http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/Aki/English/Security/Kosovo-NATO-removes-roadblocks-Serbs-erect-new-ones-as-tensions-rise_312490657362.html

ADN Kronos International - September 27, 2011

Kosovo: NATO removes roadblocks, Serbs erect new ones as tensions rise

Belgrade: Nato forces stationed in Kosovo began removing barricades in northern Kosovo overnight and local Serbs erected new ones as tensions flared again Tuesday at one of two border crossings at the centre of a two-month-old dispute.
Nato's KFOR force used teargas to disperse local Serbs holding a vigil at the roadblocks and arrested several people at the Jarinje border crossing with Serbia. One man had to be treated in hospital for his injuries, Serbian media reported.
The crisis broke out two months ago when Kosovo's ethnic Albanian dominated government sent special police and customs officers to take over two border crossings with Serbia, Brnjak and Jarinje, amid a trade dispute.
Belgrade opposes Kosovo's independence, declared by majority Albanians in 2008 and local Serbs, who form the majority of the population in the north, don’t recognise Pristina's authority and object to Kosovo police and customs officers being placed at border crossings with Serbia.
A local Serb leader Branko Ninic said KFOR blocked all local roads in the north, cutting off several villages and making it impossible for people to reach work and children to go to school. Serbian television said the situation was tense with sirens sounding in the northern town of Leposavic early Tuesday and local Serbs massing at the disputed border crossings.
Ninic described KFOR's action as “another provocation” ahead of a new round of European Union-sponsored talks between Belgrade and Pristina which were due to resume in Brussels on Tuesday.
Belgrade has accused KFOR and the EU mission in Kosovo (EULEX) of siding with majority Albanians and of overstepping its “status neutral mandate” as defined by the United Nations Security Council.
Pristina and Belgrade negotiators reached an agreement on customs seals to be used on border crossings with Serbia, but the two sides failed to reconcile their differing interpretations of who should control the crossings.
The crisis broke out in late July when Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci controversially sent special police to Kosovo take over two northern border crossings with Serbia from KFOR and European Union police.
Kosovo police seized the border crossings to enforce a ban on imports from Serbia. Kosovo's government imposed the ban in July in retaliation for Serbia's blocking of Kosovo imports.
Serbia is expecting to become an official candidate for EU membership in October, but EU officials have said it must first establish “good neighbourly relations” with Kosovo and resolve the crisis in the Serb-populated north.
Kosovo's independence has been recognised by more than eighty countries, including the United States and 22 out of 27 EU members so far.

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http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2011/09/27/4-nato-peacekeepers-wounded-in-kosovo-border-fight/

Voice of America News - September 27, 2011

4 NATO Peacekeepers Wounded in Kosovo Border Fight

Four NATO peacekeepers have been wounded in a fight at a Kosovo-Serbia border crossing after weeks of tensions in the region.
Seven Serbs were also hurt in Tuesday's violence, which erupted when international forces began taking down Serb barricades at the disputed border point. Witnesses say NATO troops fired rubber bullets...at Kosovo Serbs, who threw stones toward the soldiers at the checkpoint.
Earlier this month, ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo blocked roads leading to the border to protest a decision to put Kosovo customs officials at the crossing points in Brnjak and Jarinje.
Pristina, with the support of the [NATO] peacekeepers and the European Union, has moved to extend its government control in northern Kosovo. Ethnic Serbs in that area have refused to recognize Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence.
Belgrade considers Kosovo a part of Serbia and says it will not support the presence of Kosovo officials at the border crossings. 
...

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http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/09/27/56836385.html

Voice of Russia/Russian Information Agency Novosti - Septembre 27, 2011

Lavrov urges compliance with UN resolution on Kosovo

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called on the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) to strictly abide by UN Security Council resolution 1244.
Meeting his Serbian counterpart Vuk Jeremic in New York, Mr. Lavrov cautioned against moves fraught with further destabilization on the administrative border between Serbia and Kosovo.
Tension broke out in the middle of this month after the ethnic Albanian authorities of Kosovo deployed their customs and police officers at the Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings with the assistance of KFOR servicemen despite fierce protests from local Serbs.

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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=09&dd=27&nav_id=76572

Beta News Agency/Tanjug News Agency/B92 - September 27, 2011

KFOR fires at Serbs, seven injured
 
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: Kosovska Mitrovica Health Center Director Milan Jakovljević says seven persons who were injured at the Jarinje checkpoint earlier today have been hospitalized. 
According to him, six persons sustained serious injuries from live rounds and one person has been taken to the ophthalmology ward due to eye problems caused by tear gas. 
“Nobody is in a life-threatening condition so far,” Jakovljević stressed. 
...

Jakovljević added that shots had also been fired at the ambulance but that the medical team that had been giving medical attention to the injured Serbs had not been injured. 
... 

KFOR troops threw flash bombs and tear gas and fired rubber bullets at local Serbs who gathered at the Jarinje checkpoint around 13:00 CET. 
U.S. KFOR troops used tear gas early on Tuesday to disperse Serbs and remove a barricade from an alternative road that leads from Jarinje to central Serbia. 
Local Serbs, who spent the night at the barricades, told Beta news agency earlier on Tuesday that the troops had been brutal, that they had used tear gas and that they tied up young men who had been present. 
One of them received medical attention at the Raška hospital. Four Serbs have been arrested and later released. The U.S. troops threaten to shoot anyone who comes close to the barbed wire at the Jarinje administrative checkpoint. 
KFOR troops removed the barricades made of dirt and gravel. 
They have also announced that starting from Tuesday morning they will arrest anyone who uses the alternative road around Jarinje. German troops arrested and soon after released two people at the alternative road around 7:00 CET on Tuesday. 
An incident broke out around 10:30 CET when several citizens threw rocks at KFOR troops who responded by using tear gas. The clash quickly ended when Leposavić Mayor Branko Ninić called on the citizens to remain calm and to peacefully fight for their legitimate requests. 
The night was peaceful at the other barricades in northern Kosovo. 
KFOR removed a sand barricade from Jarinje last night, but Serbs who came to the administrative checkpoint in great numbers managed to set up a new barricade on the main road leading to Rudnica and kept watch at an alternative road that connects this part of Kosovo with central Serbia.

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http://en.trend.az/regions/world/europe/1937542.html

Deutsche Presse-Agentur - September 28, 2011

Belgrade breaks off talks with Kosovo to protest violence

Serbia on Tuesday broke off talks held with Kosovo under European Union auspices to protest an operation by NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo against Serbs blocking a contested border, DPA reported.
"For the time being, the priority is the situation at border crossings, and for us no other topic exists," Serbia's chief negotiator, Borko Stefanovic, was quoted by Belgrade media as saying.
"I think in this situation it is unrealistic to talk about energy, telecommunications and regional initiatives," he said in Brussels, where he was meeting with EU mediator Robert Cooper and US representative Philip Reeker.
The seventh round since March of EU-facilitated talks between Serbia and Kosovo to resolve issues stemming from Kosovo's secession were scheduled without the disputed border crossings on the agenda.
The EU has set progress in the talks as a crucial condition for Serbia to be formally recognized as an EU membership candidate already this year. Belgrade officials had hoped that a date for the start of accession talks would be set at the same time.
The negotiations were already interrupted in July, when Serbia refused to lift a de-facto trade embargo on Kosovo goods.
That escalated into a trade war and tensions in northern Kosovo, when Pristina attempted to take control of border crossings in the north, one of few areas where Serbs outnumber ethnic Albanians.
Tensions in the area again erupted into violence on Tuesday, when NATO peacekeepers (KFOR) moved to dismantle roadblocks that the Serbs erected in their enclave in protest at their loss of control over the borders in mid-September.
KFOR sealed several "alternate" routes, which the Serbs had opened toward Serbia proper to circumvent controls at the official border crossings.
At least four peacekeepers and seven demonstrators were injured in clashes.

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http://en.ria.ru/russia/20110928/167220907.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti - September 28, 2011

Russia 'disappointed' with NATO's reluctance to discuss Kosovo

BRUSSELS: Russia is upset by NATO's unwillingness to discuss the situation in Kosovo at NATO-Russia Council sessions, Russia's NATO envoy said on Wednesday.
"Russia's permanent mission to NATO is disappointed with the reluctance of its partners to discuss the situation in Kosovo at the NATO-Russia Council," Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
Moscow regards the Kosovo problem as a "serious destabilizing factor in the Balkans situation, which directly affects European security," he said.
Four NATO troops and six Serb protesters were wounded in fresh violence on the disputed Serbia-Kosovo border on Tuesday.
...

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http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/09/28/56888906.html

Voice of Russia/Itar-Tass - September 28, 2011

KFOR attacks Kosovo Serbs

Representatives of the Serbian community in Macedonia are indignant at the groundless attack of the KFOR international security force in Kosovo against Kosovo Serbs, Ivan Stoilkovic, leader of the Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia, declared to the ITAR-TASS news agency on Wednesday.
“According to its status, KFOR is to remain neutral and protect citizens rather than get into conflicts with them,” he pointed out. “There can be no excuse for the outrageous behaviour of KFOR servicemen who tried to cold-bloodedly kill people only for being Serbian.”
The clash occurred at the security check-point on the administrative border between Serbia and the self-proclaimed republic. The Serbs were protesting against the Kosovo administration establishing control over the security check-point.

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http://rt.com/news/kosovo-nato-conflict-603/

RT - September 28, 2011

NATO provoking another conflict in Balkans - Rogozin

The NATO peacekeeping force KFOR has sent more troops to the Serbian-Kosovo border following bloody clashes there. But as Russia’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin told RT, the alliance is creating a new conflict in the region.
"It's another mistake that NATO is making by provoking another conflict in the Balkans,” Dmitry Rogozin said. 
According to witnesses, KFOR has deployed armored vehicles, sandbags and barbed wire around the Jarinje border crossing, about 100 km (60 miles) from Kosovo's capital, Pristina, on Wednesday. 
“It seems my NATO colleagues don't have a clue what the consequences of their involvement in the conflict could be,” Dmitry Rogozin said. “Instead of taking a neutral position in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution, they took the side of Kosovo-Albania. Basically, NATO is blocking the only road of life between the Kosovan Serbs and Serbia. It's the international peacekeepers who are involved in the civil conflict in the north of the region.”
NATO reinforced the border a day after clashes which left 16 Kosovo Serbs and four KFOR members injured.
Milan Jakovljević, the director of Kosovska Mitrovica Health Center, said six people sustained serious injuries from live rounds and one person had been taken to the ophthalmology ward due to eye problems caused by tear-gas, Serbian radio and television broadcaster B92 reported. 
Both sides blame each other for starting the violence, in which rubber bullets and tear-gas were used by NATO forces.
It is believed the clashes took place when alliance peacekeeping forces tried to dismantle a roadblock set up by Serbs. NATO’s spokesperson insists that KFOR troops had fired on Serb protesters in the Mitrovica region in response to an attack by the crowd.
Meanwhile, according to Rogozin, NATO does not want to discuss the situation in Kosovo or to investigate the latest bloody accident.  
“They are hiding behind formal phrases that mean nothing,” he said.
“We are witnessing outright lies about what kinds of measures have been used against the civilian population in Kosovo. We have been told that only rubber bullets and tear-gas were used. But according to the information from the hospital, all the injured have gunshot wounds. And physicians from Mitrovica complained about the bombardment of ambulances, which were transporting the wounded from the conflict zone," Rogozin told Interfax news agency.
Russia has demanded that NATO creates a commission to investigate what happened in the region. 
“I have just asked for an objective investigation into what the so-called NATO peacekeepers are doing in Kosovo. But they just ignored my question,” Rogozin said. “If NATO is concerned about its reputation they should stop this immediately, become neutral again, and investigate the crimes that have taken place against the civilians in northern Kosovo,” he added.
He stressed that Russia would support and protect civilians, and would also protect decisions made by the UN Security Council.  

John Laughland of the Paris-based Institute for Democracy and Cooperation agrees the deployment of KFOR troops has reactivated a ‘frozen conflict.’
“If they took away their newly sent force from the borders between the northern Kosovo and the rest of Serbia, then yes, I do think that the region would go back to being peaceful,” John Laughland told RT.

Border Backfire: 'Civil war unfolding in Kosovo'---

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/09/28/56888906.html

Voice of Russia - September 28, 2011

Russia calls for discussion on Kosovo
        
Russia hopes the NATO contingent in Kosovo will prevent separatist violence against the Kosovo Serbs.
The Russian NATO Ambassador was speaking about this Wednesday after the Alliance refused to discuss regional instability from the Kosovo crisis on its joint council with Russia.
Two weeks ago, there were clashes and casualties after the separatist authorities seized two crossing points from Serb-populated northern Kosovo to southern Serbia.

KFOR attacks Kosovo Serbs

Representatives of the Serbian community in Macedonia are indignant at the groundless attack of the KFOR international security force in Kosovo against Kosovo Serbs, Ivan Stoilkovic,  leader of the Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia, declared to the ITAR-TASS news agency on Wednesday.
“According to its status, KFOR is to remain neutral and protect citizens rather than get into conflicts with them," he pointed out. "There can be no excuse for the outrageous behaviour of KFOR servicemen who tried to cold-bloodedly kill people only for being Serbian.”
The clash occurred at the security check-point on the administrative border between Serbia and the self-proclaimed republic. The Serbs were protesting against the Kosovo administration establishing control over the security check-point.
The UN Security Council will meet to discuss the Kosovo issue over clashes between KFOR troops and Serbian forces.
The UN press-service says the session will be held behind closed doors.

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http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/235813.html

Itar-Tass - September 28, 2011

Ambassador demands investigation of NATO’s firing at Kosovan Serbs

BRUSSELS: Russia’s ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin has issued a demand that NATO officials investigate the incident, in which NATO forces opened fire at Kosovan Serbs near the Jarinje check-post in Kosovo.
He wrote about his demand at his Twitter microblog.
“I’ve demand an investigation of the fact of fire by NATO servicemen at Kosovan Serbs, who protested against the blocking of the administrative border between Kosovo and Serbia,” Rogozin said.
“What I’ve heard in response is apologies only,” he said. “Irresponsibility of this sort leads to a war.”
Earlier, a demand to investigate the incident was made by Serbia’s President Boris Tadic, who had a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Tuesday, KFOR servicemen made an attempt to pull down the barricades that the Kosovan Serbs had put up in front of the Jarinje check-post. They opened fire with rubber bullets and used teargas after the Serbs had thrown several stones at them.
In retaliation, the Serbs hurled a few improvised bombs at the troops.
The incident left four KFOR soldiers and seven Serbs wounded.

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http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n260507

Focus News Agency - September 29, 2011

US condemns violence in Kosovo

Washington: The United States on Wednesday condemned what it called a "violent attack by a Serb mob" against NATO peacekeepers at a checkpoint in northern Kosovo, calling for calm from Pristina and Belgrade, AFP reported.
The State Department said that nine members of the alliance's KFOR peacekeeping force were injured in Tuesday's incident on the disputed border. An earlier toll said four peacekeepers were hurt.
"The United States condemns the violent attack by a Serb mob against the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) on September 27th," it said in a statement.
"We encourage the governments of Kosovo and Serbia to remain committed to the EU-facilitated dialogue process, to encourage calm, and to find agreements that improve the lives of the ordinary citizens in both countries," it said.
Those talks - the latest round in a six-month bid by the European Union to help settle friction between the two neighbors - were shelved on Wednesday.

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http://en.rian.ru/world/20110929/167243844.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti - September 29, 2011

UN Security Council fails to agree on Northern Kosovo

SARAJEVO: Member states of the UN Security Council failed to find a common approach to the situation in Northern Kosovo, the Belgrade-based Tanjug news agency said on Thursday.
At Russia's request, the Security Council gathered for emergency consultations in New York late on Wednesday to discuss the recent flare-up of tension in Kosovo.
Four NATO soldiers and seven Serb protesters were wounded on Tuesday in clashes between locals and the military at the disputed Kosovo northern border crossing with Serbia known as Jarinje. The incident disrupted a regular round of consultations between Belgrade and Pristina.
"Most UN Security Council members showed they understood the severity of the situation [in Kosovo]," diplomatic sources told Tanjug.
Western countries in the UN Security Council believe the situation in northern Kosovo is under control, and the EULEX and KFOR security forces are acting in line with their UN mandate. They said the Kosovo issue should be solved only through dialog with the mediation of the European Union.
The United States condemned the incident, describing it as a "violent attack by a Serb mob," and called on all the sides to remain calm and resume dialog.
The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the rising tensions in Kosovo, saying that "indulging the Kosovo-Albanian side promotes the growth of its aggression, its unwillingness to seek compromise solutions and to consider the legitimate interests of all ethnic groups living in Kosovo."
The ministry also reiterated its appeal to the international presence to "strictly stick to the principle of neutrality status."
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in New York on the sidelines of the 66th UN General Assembly in New York and provided him with all information about the border incident, the BETA news agency said.

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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=09&dd=29&nav_id=76609

Tanjug News Agency - September 29, 2011

Security Council again without common stance on Kosovo

NEW YORK: The UN Security Council finished consultations late Wednesday without a common stance on the situation in northern Kosovo, Tanjug has learned.
In the closed-doors meeting held at Russia’s request, Western countries reiterated their earlier position that the problems in northern Kosovo could only be solved through dialogue, with the mediation of the EU, said the sources.
Western countries in the UN Security Council believe the situation in northern Kosovo is under control, and EULEX and KFOR are acting in line with the mandate given to them by the UN. 
Most UN Security Council members showed they understood the severity of the situation in the Serbian province, the sources said. 
The consultations were held at the request of Russia, which expressed concern Tuesday over the violence against the Serb population permitted by the international KFOR troops, at the same time urging KFOR and EULEX to remain strictly status-neutral. 
The consultations followed a confrontation which erupted Tuesday at the Jarinje administrative crossing between KFOR troops and local Serbs, in which 11 people were wounded - seven Serbs and four KFOR members.

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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=09&dd=29&nav_id=76616

B92 - September 29, 2011

KFOR starts demolishing alternative road

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: KFOR troops exited their base at the Jarinje checkpoint and blocked the road with two armored cars on Thursday.
They have started demolishing an alternative Kosovska Mitrovica-Raška road with dredgers.
The two KFOR armored vehicles are parked only several hundred meters from the Jarinje checkpoint, a B92 reporter has said. 
The situation in Kosovo is otherwise peaceful. Serbs reinforced a barricade in Kosovska Mitrovica last night. 
Kosovo police arrested a Serb under suspicion of taking part in an incident in Kosovska Mitrovica yesterday, when three persons were injured, Kosovo police Spokesman Besim Hoti.

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http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/09/29/56935628.html

Voice of Russia - September 29, 2011

No calm at Serbian-Kosovo border

Lyudmila Morozova

The UN Security Council has held closed-door consultations on the situation in northern Kosovo but its member states have once again failed to work out a single stand. On September 28th, Russia initiated an emergency session following clashes between locals and troops of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) near the Yarine checkpoint at the administrative Serbia-Kosovo border.  
What is meant here is a conflict at two checkpoints controlled by the northern Kosovo Serbs. Back in July this year, the self-proclaimed republic’s Albanian authorities attempted to get them under control but failed in their endeavors. Today, the support of NATO forces and European police finally helped the Albanians appoint their customs and police officers at the two disputed checkpoints of Yarine and Brnyak. In response, the local Serbs blocked both of them, says head of the Institute of Europe’s group of ethno-political conflicts Dr. Pavel Kandel:
"The Serbs are opposed to the presence of Kosovo customs officers there and naturally try to force them out. The Kosovo authorities, in their turn, seek to bring their own officials to the checkpoints, thus making the best use of KFOR peacekeepers’ support and tearing off northern Kosovo from Serbia. It is quite natural that the indignant local Serbs arranged a demonstration resulting in clashes with the KFOR and subsequent injuries," Pavel Kandel explains.
Seven Serbs and four KFOR servicemen were injured in the incident. In response to accusations of violence on the part of NATO, the peacekeepers were said to have only shot for self-defense purposes.
Speaking at the latest Russia-NATO Council session, Russian envoy to the Alliance Dmitry Rogozin demanded an inquiry into the shooting of Kosovo Serbs near the Yarine checkpoint. “Irresponsibility of this sort leads to a war,” the official said.
...

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http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?pg=2&id=277104

Interfax - September 30, 2011

Rogozin accuses NATO of gross violation of UNSC resolution on Kosovo

MOSCOW: In another conflict in Kosovo, NATO has openly sided with Pristina and acted in breach of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution, said Russia's Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin.
"In this situation, NATO has unequivocally sided with Pristina," he said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 television channel on Friday. 
During the conflict, soldiers from the NATO Force for Kosovo used firearms against the Serbs, he said.
"Essentially, it was shooting against a peaceful civilian demonstration. This is absolutely against all of the norms written down in the UN Security Council Resolution No. 1244," the ambassador said.

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http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?pg=6&id=276995

Interfax - September 30, 2011

Interference in internal affairs must not be covered by concept of protecting civilians – Lukashevich

MOSCOW: Attempts to justify foreign interference in internal affairs by compliance with the concept of the responsibility to protect civilians are unacceptable, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.
“We cannot side-step the polemics [at the 66th session of the UN general Assembly] on the concept of responsibility for the protection [of civilians], which some speakers cited while justifying the use of force in internal conflicts, including in Libya,” he said at a press briefing in Moscow on Friday.
“Russia is convinced that using this concept as a cover for interference in internal affairs and for regime change in the UN member-states is unacceptable,” he said.

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http://rt.com/news/kosovo-kfor-clash-serbs-771/

RT - September 30, 2011

NATO issues Kosovo shoot to kill warning

Violence has flared again in Northern Kosovo after NATO troops brutally dispersed a crowd of Serbian protesters at a makeshift roadblock, firing live ammunition at peaceful demonstrators, and have now established an armed presence in the area.
Over 100 KFOR troops arrived at the scene on Friday and forced the Serbs to leave the then-intact barricade, threatening the use of lethal force. KFOR said they would shoot anyone who failed to comply. They also ordered journalists to leave the immediate area.  
NATO’s force in Kosovo has said it will shoot to kill anyone who crosses a barricaded area near the disputed checkpoint on Serbia's border with Kosovo, reports RT’s Aleksey Yaroshevsky.
Allied pro-Kosovo forces then brought in bulldozers and demolished the barricade built by ethnic Serbs on the Kosovo side of the border with Serbia.
But Serbs at the remaining barricades say they will not leave their positions.
“We have lost a battle, but not the whole war,” they told RT.
The Kosovar Serbs added that their move to erect barricades in Kosovo is driven by fear that Belgrade might abandon them in pursuit of EU membership.
Ethnic Serbs are more determined than ever to show that they do not wish to be part of the Kosovo republic.
“They are telling us to leave but we have nowhere to go,' explained Petra, a local resident.
“This is because Kosovo is our land, our home and our life. It seems that we are on our own now and we will stand our ground.” 
After peacefully retreating from the barricades, the Serbs established another makeshift checkpoint by putting two large trucks on a bridge, thus blocking access to northern Kosovo for the KFOR troops.
The situation remains tense but not violent with Serbs pulling back and grouping at a nearby bridge block post. The barricade secured by NATO troops is just one of about half a dozen constructed by Serbs, so the stand-off is continuing and an escalation of tension remains a possibility. RT’s correspondent reports that he saw a group of Serbs tearing down a road sign posted by KFOR, indicating that their fighting spirit is far from lost.
Still, more than 10 wounded people remain in hospital in the town of Mitrovice after Tuesday’s clashes with KFOR forces. Some of them have bullet wounds.
RT spoke to them to get first-hand information about the clashes.
“We were standing by the barricade when the soldiers started shouting and shooting at us,” recalls injured Aleksander Radunovic. “I did not know what they were shooting with so I got scared and started running away. Then I thought I had been hit on the shoulder, but it turned out I had received a perforating wound of my lung.”
Significantly, KFOR and NATO are trying to convince the public that they only used rubber bullets and tear gas grenades against the Serbs to pacify them. But doctors in the local hospital told RT that the patients have unmistakable gunshot wounds.
“We received seven men in a serious condition: gunshot wounds, fractures and bruises – they were not rubber bullets, not a single one of them had rubber bullet wounds,” revealed the head surgeon of Mitrovica hospital, Radomir Ivankovic. “All those wounds were caused by regular bullets which we extracted from the bodies [of injured].”
The conflict zone in Kosovska Mitrovica is split between the Albanians and the Serbs, and as RT’s crew witnessed last night, the latter are currently reinforcing their barricades with fresh piles of sandbags being placed across roads to block access to KFOR forces and the Kosovo police.
NATO helicopters are bringing additional troops to the conflict zone, and are reported to be flying over the border crossings approximately every 30 minutes.
There has been a strong international response on this week’s developments in Kosovo.
The US has accused Serbs of provoking violence, while the Russian Foreign ministry has expressed deep concern over the situation in Kosovo, saying that this conflict, largely perceived as a border incident, could destabilize the situation in the whole region.
Russia’s envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, has criticized NATO for a crude breach of the UN resolution on Kosovo, saying the alliance has failed to remain neutral.
“In this situation, NATO has definitely taken Pristina’s side,” Rogozin told Russia’s TV channel Rossiya 24. 
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has also expressed deep concern over news suggesting an emergency carriage taking the injured to hospital was fired on by Kosovo forces during Tuesday clashes at the disputed checkpoint.
On Wednesday, members of the United Nations Security Council gathered for emergency consultations in New York to discuss the situation in southern Serbia, but failed to reach a common stance on the conflict in the turbulent region.
On Thursday, Kosovo's Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi said that roadblocks put up by local Serbs will be removed, pledging, though, that ethnic Albanian-dominated authorities will make no unilateral moves, AP reports. 
The removal of barriers is “inevitable” as they prevent “freedom of movement for people and goods,'' the minister said, adding that any action would be coordinated with the NATO-led KFOR forces and the European Union mission.

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http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/1001/1224305086199.html

Irish Times - October 1, 2011

Kosovo Serbs dig in as border dispute turns bloody

Daniel McLaughlin in Jarinje

Mileva Premovic and her neighbours while away the afternoon in the shade of a broad tree. The unseasonable warmth makes it hard to imagine that the green Kapaonik mountains, rising up a few miles away in Serbia, will soon be white with snow and busy with skiers.
It would also be hard to believe that bullets were fired and blood shed here just a few days ago, were it not for the scars that blight Kosovo’s border zone.
Nearby fields are burned black from recent rioting and, just over the rise, US soldiers move warily behind a huge earth barricade and glinting coils of barbed wire. They warn off anyone approaching their position while they are still hundreds of metres away, their rifles clearly showing.
“It was frightening to see the demonstrators running, tumbling over each other to get away,” Premovic says of Tuesday’s clashes between Serbs and Nato troops. “There were hundreds of local people, young and old, and I could hear gunfire – tap-tap-tap. If the Americans want to kill me, then go ahead, I have nowhere else to go. But this has always been Serb land; there have never been Albanians here.”
Serbs accuse Nato troops, specifically Americans, of using live ammunition to disperse people who were protesting against ethnic-Albanian Kosovo police efforts to take control of customs points along the border with Serbia – a frontier that local Serbs insist they will never recognise.
...

Tuesday’s violence injured at least six Serbs and four Kfor soldiers, ramped up tension in northern Kosovo, and prompted the postponement of EU-brokered talks between Belgrade and Pristina to solve practical problems stemming from Kosovo’s 2008 independence declaration.
The Belgrade government, like most Serbs, refuses to recognise the sovereignty of Kosovo, which from 1999-2008 was run by the UN after Nato bombing forced Slobodan Milosevic’s forces to withdraw from the region...
Many Serbs fled Kosovo after the 1998-1999 war and the 100,000 that remain are divided between almost entirely Serb northern regions and enclaves in the south where they are surrounded by Kosovo’s 90 per cent ethnic Albanian majority.
Serbs in northern Kosovo refuse to acknowledge the authority of the Pristina government and still look to Belgrade for political leadership, protection and finance.
In a bid to tighten control of the rebellious north, Pristina dispatched special police to take over custom points in July. Local Serbs resisted and killed one of those policemen.
The row has rumbled on, and this week’s clashes came when Kfor troops tried to clear barricades built by Serbs across local main roads and to block one of the many rough tracks that they use to bypass official checkpoints and enter Serbia.
...

About a dozen Serbs sit in the sun, eating, drinking and making gentle fun of the Greek Kfor troops watching them from behind barbed wire. The Serbs insist they are neither radicals nor puppets of the local mafia, but patriots who refuse to be dictated to in their ancient homeland.
“We want to remain part of Serbia.
“I live on my grandfather’s land, but this situation means I have to hope my kids find a future in Belgrade or Europe. That’s the sad truth,” says Sladjan Radosavljevic from the nearby village of Leposavic, home to many of the protesters.
“Serbs are disappearing everywhere,” he adds. “Croatia, Macedonia, and they are under pressure in Montenegro. What could we possibly hope for from the Albanians?”
Offering food and strong home-made rakia to visitors, local man Stanko Lakic brandishes a fork and insists it is the protesters’ deadliest weapon.
“Every river has a source and every nation has its birthplace. The birthplace for every Serb is Kosovo.
“And what happens when a river loses its source? It disappears,” he says.
“But Serbs will never leave Kosovo.
“No price and no amount of violence will force us out.”

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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=10&dd=04&nav_id=76690

Tanjug News Agency - October 4, 2011

Kosovo to be discussed at NATO summit

BRUSSELS, WASHINGTON: NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says situation in northern Kosovo and KFOR’s role will be one of the key topics of NATO defense ministers' meeting. 
“We will discuss the developments in Kosovo. We have seen how quickly tensions can increase and how important the role of the NATO mission is,” Rasmussen stated in Brussels on Monday, Voice of America has reported. 
...

Commenting on the claims that KFOR soldiers used live ammunition when firing at Serbs at the Jarinje administrative crossing, the NATO official said that this was an act of self-defense, and that soldiers had right to act like that. 
...

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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=10&dd=04&nav_id=76696

Beta News Agency - October 4, 2011

Kosovo Serbs hold protest rally

GRAČANICA: Several hundreds of Serbs held a protest in Gračanica on Tuesday over murder of Aleksandar Putnik and wounding of his son Dobrica near Orahovac. 
The Serbs started a protest walk at 11:00 CET. The rally ended in the Gračanica Monastery where the protesters lit candles. 
The protest gathering was led by Gračanica Health Center Director Rada Trajković. Serbs were carrying Serbian flags and banners written in Serbian and English. 
They called on Kosovo officials to find the perpetrators of this attack and all other crimes against Kosovo Serbs. 
There were no incidents during the protest and Kosovo police officers were providing safety. EULEX police were also present. 
Putnik was killed on Saturday night in front of a restaurant in the village of Zrze. Police did not state what the motive was, but stressed that the investigation was underway.

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http://en.rian.ru/world/20111005/167409054.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti - October 5, 2011

NATO 'violated' UN mandate in Kosovo clashes

MOSCOW: Russia's Foreign Ministry said NATO overstepped its UN Security Council mandate.
"I must repeat again that the use of force to help implement the lawmaking of the so-called republic do not agree with the UN mandate and vi

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