Kosovo Serbs receive Russian humanitarian aid

7 May, 2008 19:10 / Updated 16 years ago

Serbs in one of Kosovo's regions have started receiving Russian aid which was sent at the request of the Serbian government. Thousands of people in the area live on the brink of poverty, and it seems the situation hasn’t improved since Kosovo declared ind

Since the beginning of last month, 140 tonnes of humanitarian aid have arrived in Kosovo from Moscow.  The canned food, medicine and medical equipment are distributed by the local Red Cross to Serbian refugee camps. They’ve been cut off from Belgrade since Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence, which some argue has made the humanitarian situation worse. At the request of Belgrade, Moscow is doing its best to help – but the unstable political situation and growing unemployment is making things difficult. On Sunday, Serbs go the polls in what many are describing as a watershed election. One of the issues they’ll be voting on is Kosovo. That’s why almost all the Serbs who live in Kosovo plan to have their say. However, while they’ll be voting for political change, very few expect the humanitarian situation on the ground to change any time soon.