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Quint (U.S., Germany, France,
Britain and Italy) ambassadors boycotted in the evening a
reception organized in Pristina by Kosovo's President Vjosa
Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti to mark 'Liberation Day.'
An anniversary that the Kosovo leadership celebrates on June 12,
the day on which in 1999 - after 78 days of NATO bombing of
Serbia and the end of the war - NATO (KFOR) troops, nearly
40,000 strong, entered Kosovo. Three days earlier in Kumanovo,
North Macedonia, the peace agreement was signed by which
then-Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic withdrew troops from
Kosovo. Media in Pristina reported that only the ambassadors of
Switzerland and Saudi Arabia were present at tonight's
reception. Also absent were representatives of opposition
parties. Most likely reason for the Western boycott was
irritation with the Pristina leadership's policy in the crisis
in northern Kosovo, heedless of the Quint's repeated calls for a
rapid de-escalation of inter-ethnic tensions, and calls to
proceed with the establishment of the Community of Serb
Municipalities in Kosovo.
