Kosovo Only Trying To Get International Recognition By Supporting Kiev - Lavrov

Pristina, the capital of the self-declared country of Kosovo, is only trying to gain international recognition for itself by supporting the United States and NATO, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Serbian media on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th March, 2022) Pristina, the capital of the self-declared country of Kosovo, is only trying to gain international recognition for itself by supporting the United States and NATO, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Serbian media on Monday.

"As for Pristina's support for Kiev, I think everything is clear on this. It is not that Pristina, being self-proclaimed as everyone sees it, a criminal quasi-state, thinks and cares about international law," Lavrov said, adding that "it just wants to take advantage of the situation to have its pseudo-independence recognized, and positions itself as if it were the main ally of the US and NATO in the Balkans.

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In 1999, an armed confrontation between Albanian separatists from the Kosovo Liberation Army and the Serbian army led to a bombing of what was then the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, by NATO forces. The operation was undertaken without the approval of the UN Security Council and was based on allegations by Western countries that the Yugoslav authorities were allegedly carrying out ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians. NATO airstrikes continued from March 24 to June 10, 1999 and claimed the lives of over 2,500 people, including 87 children.