Alexander Lukashevich named the protection of rights and interests of non-Albanian minorities among key tasks of the mission and its mandate

VIENNA, October 12. /TASS/. The Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE)’s Mission in Kosovo should immediately respond to threats and crimes against this region's Serbian population, Russia’s OSCE envoy has said.

Alexander Lukashevich told the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna on Tuesday evening that the impartial and neutral work of the OSCE Mission was becoming more and more important amid the extremely complicated situation in the region. He identified the protection of rights and interests of non-Albanian minorities, first of all the Serbian population, as one of the key tasks of the mission and its mandate.

He added that aggressive statements and moves by the Kosovo Albanian leadership against the Serbian government encourage the atmosphere of lawfulness and impunity for crimes against the Serbian population, with theft and misappropriation of their property, physical and verbal attacks and vandalism still remaining a routine occurrence in Kosovo.

"Illegal actions against Serbian children and young people in the south of the region, which are now on the rise, are particularly alarming. The OSCE Mission should immediately react to all such incidents and ensure that the Kosovo authorities punish those guilty," he said. "The task of the OSCE’s presence on the ground is not only to assist the creation of necessary institutional and legal guarantees of political, social, language, cultural and religious guarantees to the non-Albanian population, but also to ensure the practical implementation of these laws."

Lukashevich also condemned the inaction of NATO and EU missions in the region, which distanced themselves from ensuring the security of Kosovo’s non-Albanian population.

See at: http://tass.com/world/1025648