Russia at the UN Security Council on Kosovo: "Pristina, with Brussels tacit approval, sabotages CSM formation"

Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya stated that the desecration of Serbian cultural and religious heritage in Kosovo continues, with Orthodox cemeteries, monasteries, and churches being vandalized and looted. Since 1999, over 60 such sites have been damaged, nearly half completely destroyed. He noted that 2,400 Orthodox cemeteries have been desecrated, 50 destroyed, and more than 100,000 tombstones smashed. Nebenzya criticized Kosovo Albanian pseudo-scholars for attempting to falsify history but emphasized that Kosovo remains the cradle of Serbian national identity and the Serbian Orthodox Church.

He said the situation in Kosovo is steadily worsening under the “ultranationalist regime” of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, accelerating the “cleansing of non-Albanian populations” in the north. Methods include economic strangulation, expansion of police stations in northern municipalities, violence by Kosovo Security Forces, intimidation campaigns, and criminal charges against Serbs to seize property.

Nebenzya cited the so-called law on foreigners and the law on vehicles as examples of discrimination forcing Serbs to choose between renouncing Kosovo citizenship or leaving the territory. He criticized the EU for framing limited concessions regarding Serbian medical and educational institutions as achievements, calling them attempts to conceal complicity in gradually taking over structures that safeguard Serb survival in the province.

He highlighted violations of the rights of Serbian political representatives, including alleged manipulation by Kosovo’s Central Election Commission against the Serb List during parliamentary elections. Nebenzya also warned that increased attacks by anonymous Kosovo Albanians on Serbian police patrols along the administrative line with central Serbia, and rumors of Kurti withdrawing NATO forces from the buffer zone, have raised international concern.

He emphasized that NATO-led forces remain the only legitimate military presence in the province under the Kumanovo Agreement and UN Security Council Resolution 1244, and that replacing them with local forces could severely worsen the security situation. Nebenzya criticized Western capitals for continuing to pressure Serbian authorities to resolve the Kosovo issue solely under Pristina’s terms, stating that such actions strengthen the province’s social control.