Kremlin accuses EU of blocking humanitarian aid to Kosovo Serbs

Kremlin accuses EU of blocking humanitarian aid to Kosovo Serbs

Dec 14, 2011, 15:52 GMT

Moscow - Russia's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused the European Union of blocking 50 Russian lorries carrying badly-needed shipments of humanitarian aid to ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.

In a statement, the ministry said EU officials were 'using a variety of pretexts' to prevent the convoy from reaching its destination.

Seemingly artificial delays allegedly imposed by EU officials include their insistence on the convoy being escorted, as well as starting but not completing border crossing formalities for individual lorries, said Aleksandr Kanuzin, Russia's ambassador to Serbia, in comments to the news agency Interfax.

EU officials working on Kosovo's border are taking sides in the conflict between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in the region and 'playing political games,' Kanuzin said.

Russia in recent days has sent two groups of lorries loaded with 284 tons of power generation equipment, stoves, blankets and food for ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.

The first convoy, dispatched on December 7, has been blocked at Kosovo's northern border, the Interfax reported.

The lorry shipments followed a Russian airborne aid delivery on November 17.

 

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