A warning made by Prime Minister Albin Kurti about Serbia’s intentions to take over three states of the region, including Kosovo, has been echoed. On the other hand, official Belgrade has accused the Kosovo Police of violating the territory. Analysts of political issues have said that developments in the Western Balkans may be affected by the epilogue that the war in Ukraine may have.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti has warned about the danger of a war that Serbia could start in the region. The Swiss newspaper NNZ reported that in a discussion organized by the Swiss Society for Foreign Policy, Kurti said that the Serbian state has not given up revenge in Kosovo. “Not at all, Vuçiqi is simply deceiving the West. The elite that dominates the country has never given up on the Greater Serbia project. It’s just called something different now, namely ‘Serbian World’. This means the unification of all Serbs in one country. This would mean the dissolution of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo. Vuçiqi also exercises strategic patience, but the goal remains revenge. We must be prepared for this”, Kurti is quoted as saying.
Prime Minister Kurti has described the Western policy towards official Belgrade as naive. According to him, the West still misjudges Serbia. He also spoke about the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States (USA), as he said that this does not represent a danger for Kosovo.
“Kosovo has worked well with the presidents of both parties. It was liberated in 1999 under Democrat Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, a Republican, was president when Kosovo became independent in 2008,” Kurti was quoted as saying. After the terrorist attack of September 24, 2023 in Banjska in Zvečani, which was organized by Milan Radoici, who is one of the closest people to the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, state leaders, but also security institutions have warned that Serbia may try to intervene in Kosovo again. In addition to the Kosovo Police, which has increased in number in the north, the NATO Mission in Kosovo – KFOR has also increased its presence around the border zone.
Accusations of attempted destabilization have not been absent from Serbia either. The Ministry of Defense and the Serbian president claimed on Thursday that a group of heavily armed members of the Kosovo Police crossed the border line with Serbia in an unauthorized manner.
“The Americans know that Kurti ordered it on purpose. He expected those people to be killed and this would be a reason to bring NATO into conflict with Serbia”, said Vuçiqi for “RTS”.He added that next time Serbia will react in accordance with the full rules of the army.”We are asking the Americans to inform us if we are right when we say that Kurti personally ordered the provocation and the passage of his armed forces in the region of the village of Çirkoviqe”, added Vuçiqi.But this has been denied by the Kosovo Police, which has called the statements of Serbian officials aimed at creating insecurity in the north of Kosovo, inhabited mainly by Serbs, as false information.
“The Kosovo Police (KP), in order to inform the public and citizens fairly, reacts to some articles published mainly in the Serbian media, which refer to an announcement by the Ministry of Defense of Serbia, that according to them, there was a a group of heavily armed members of the Kosovo Police have crossed the border line with Serbia in the north of the country without authorization. Such writings referred to in the announcement of the Ministry of Defense of Serbia, are untrue and do not stand. Therefore, these writings and the announcement published as such, is disinformation, which aims to create uncertainty among the citizens of that area and tarnish the work of the Kosovo Police”, says the reaction of the Kosovo Police.
The NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (KFOR) has neither denied nor confirmed the claim of the Ministry of Defense of Serbia that on November 21, a group of heavily armed Kosovo policemen crossed the border line in the village of Čirković without authorization, in the territory of the Municipality of Leposaviq.
In the response sent to Radio Free Europe, KFOR said that the situation along the border between Kosovo and Serbia is calm and that they are continuing to follow the development of events.”We have a visible and flexible presence and are well positioned to respond to any security scenario, consistent with our multi-year mandate based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999,” they said. said in KFOR.At the end of the answer, KFOR said that on the issue of whether the Kosovo Police crossed the border line or not, “address the Serbian authorities for other comments”.The dangers that threaten the Western Balkans and the possibilities for new conflicts have also been mentioned by those familiar with the developments in the region.
Daniel Serwer, an American expert, has related this to the approach that the elected president of the United States, Donald Trump, may have regarding the idea of dividing Ukraine.
“The division of Ukraine will have echoes elsewhere. Serbia will see it as an opportunity to take the north of Kosovo. Republika Srpska will try to secede from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Irredentist ambitions around the world will flourish. China will want to protect sovereignty over Taiwan. Israel will annex the West Bank and northern Gaza. Dozens of border disputes in other regions will get worse,” said Serwer. Although the correction of the borders between Kosovo and Serbia was launched as an option in 2018 by the former president, Hashim Thaçi, it has been strongly opposed by countries of the European Union (EU), including Germany. The idea of changing borders has not been an option even for President Joe Biden’s administration, which wants disputes to be resolved through EU-mediated dialogue.
