Russian police leaving UNMIK

25 March 2009


Russia has terminated its participation in the UN peace operation in Kosovo, according to Leonid Pogorelov, the commander of Russias UNMIK contingent.

He said that the last Russian peacekeeper left Kosovo earlier this week. The group left in two phases, one on January 28 and one on February 23, Pogorelov told a press conference in Moscow.


Russian police arrived in Kosovo nine years ago, he said, and had dealt with numerous tasks, including patrolling, guarding and arresting criminals. They had also helped in the training of local police officers, he said.

According to Pogorelov, other foreign groups said that the image of the Russian officers in Kosovo had been at a high level, and that many of the contingents within the UNMIK mission had expressed a desire to work in cooperation with their Russians counterparts.

Since the beginning of the UN mission in Kosovo, 400 officers from the Russian Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Services border division have come and gone.

Pogorelov said that the missions leadership has evaluated the current situation in Kosovo as being relatively stable.

Too bad they are gone. Russian participation brought cash to 400 needy Russian families. Why should only Nigerian and Nepalese gendarmes enjoy the fruits of Western largesse?

UN police operations have made many impoverished cops and their families solvent, all over the world. This Empire, like the Roman Empire, is good for everyone. Except for the crucified.