Kosovo Slams Russia over Ivanovic Murder Allegation

Deputy Prime Minister Enver Hoxhaj told BIRN on Monday that the Russian claim that Pristina and its Western backers were somehow covering up their role in Oliver Ivanovic's murder was an attempt to meddle in Kosovo's affairs and cause destabilisation.

"These ill-intentioned and destructive statements do not focus on justice but instability," Hoxhaj said.

"Russia has always played such a role in relation to Kosovo and the [former Yugoslav] region," he added.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova made the accusation earlier on Monday that Pristina was potentially hiding something.

"Results of the investigation into prominent Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic's assassination are nowhere to be seen, Belgrade's requests for a joint effort are being ignored," Zakharova wrote on Twitter.

"One has the impression that Pristina and its sponsors have something to hide," she added.

Russia has long supported Serbia over Kosovo and refuses to recognise its independence.

But Hoxhaj insisted that "the Western Balkans remains politically, geographically and historically a European region dedicated to EU integration, NATO and other Euro-Atlantic structures".

Ivanovic, a prominent Kosovo Serb politician, was shot dead on January 16 in front of his party's offices in Mitrovica. No suspect has been arrested yet.

Serbia's organised crime prosecutor's office said last week that the Kosovo prosecution had agreed to exchange information on the investigation into the murder.

The European Parliament's rapporteur for Serbia, David McAllister, told the Belgrade-based Vecernje Novosti newspaper on Monday that the killing should not encourage dangerous rhetoric in the region.

"The competent judicial...