A total of 150 metric tons of food, including canned meat and fish, baby food, rice, and sugar, along with substantial amounts of medical equipment, medicines, disinfectants and other healthcare products have now been delivered to Belgrade in four deliveries. The supplies are worth around 40 million rubles ($1.7 million).
The aid will be later transferred to a local Red Cross department for shipment to Kosovo.
Serbian Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic said earlier that Serbs urgently need humanitarian aid in Kosovo and Metohija. He estimated the number of families in need of the supplies at 8,300.
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to provide humanitarian aid to Serb areas in Kosovo last month after a request from Serbia's government.
Kosovo, with a 90% ethnic-Albanian majority, has been recognized as a sovereign state by 36 countries including the United States and most European Union members since it proclaimed its independence from Serbia on February 17. Russia and China continue to back Belgrade's position that Kosovo will always remain a part of Serbia.
