Russian Envoy Hits Out at West’s Claims That Moscow Has 'No Time' for Kosovo

Speaking to the Soloviev Live TV channel on Tuesday, Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko slammed Western-touted claims that presently Russia was not prepared to get involved in Kosovo.

"I would like to emphasize that the situation is totally inaccurate and an opinion exists that Russia has no time for Kosovo now. Based on this false premise, it is precisely the West that has exacerbated the situation," he said.

According to the envoy, the West thinks that if Russia has things other than Kosovo to worry about, then it is possible to quickly get the region’s "independence" recognized by Serbia and obtain an additional instrument of pressure on Belgrade.

"This is a serious delusion, because in this situation, we stand together with our friends under the "We don’t abandon our own" slogan for Serbia," the diplomat said, TASS reported.

"We have been persistently conveying (this) to him (Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic) and he knows that we have his back," the Russian ambassador stressed.