Kateryna ShymkevychKosovo President Vjosa Osmani accuses Serbia of fomenting a war in the Western Balkans and believes that Aleksandar Vucic is preparing for war according to the plan that Vladimir Putin is implementing against Ukraine.
On September 5, the Albanian bureau of Radio Free Europe published an article in which it quotes Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani regarding the implementation of a war plan in the Western Balkans by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Vjosa Osmani compared the actions of Alexander Vucic and Serbia with the actions of Vladimir Putin against Ukraine.
According to the President of Kosovo, the reason for the constant escalation in the north of the partially recognized republic is not Pristina’s policy of non-fulfillment of the Brussels Agreement on the establishment of the Association of Serbian Municipalities, but the activity of Serbia.
Osmani believes that Vucic is deliberately exacerbating the situation between Serbia and Kosovo in order to implement a plan created by Putin. According to the President of Kosovo, it is important for the latter that a war breaks out in the Western Balkans.
What does Vjosa Osmani’s statement mean?
From the very beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the leadership of Kosovo ensured support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and did so not only in words. According to the Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti, Pristina accepted several thousand Ukrainian refugees and gave scholarships to Ukrainian journalists who could go to Kosovo with their families in a short time and work there. The day before the summit in Athens, Kurti published a statement on the X network that Kosovo joined the Declaration on the Provision of Security Guarantees of Ukraine.
In this way, Kosovo not only demonstrates its support for Ukraine but also shows the European Union and the United States that Pristina acts together with them in matters of foreign policy.
In this context, it is worth understanding that the Kosovo authorities are trying to use Russia’s war against Ukraine to achieve their own goals:
· to obtain recognition of independence from Kyiv.
· To accelerate its Euro-Atlantic path, emphasizing the constant threat from Serbia.
· To neutralize the influence of Serbian President Vucic and Serbia in the Western Balkans.
· To prove that the establishment of the Association of Serbian Municipalities in the north is dangerous for Kosovo and the Western Balkans, and they may lead to a new armed conflict on the Balkan Peninsula.
· To constantly prove to the EU and the USA that the Serbian leadership – Aleksandar Vucic, Aleksandar Vulin, Ana Brnabic, Milos Vucevic, and others – pose a danger to the region and are active implementers of the ”Serbian world” in the Balkans.
Against this background, the statements of the President of Kosovo look quite logical, however, she does not provide any evidence for her words. Hybrid threats, which are constantly being talked about in Pristina, exist, but it’s not profitable for Russia to foment an armed conflict between Kosovo and Serbia at the moment.
A more effective and efficient way to keep the USA and the EU in constant tension is smoldering contradictions. This partially diverts the West’s attention from the war in Ukraine and requires finding compromise solutions so that both Belgrade and Pristina are satisfied. Besides that, Moscow benefits if Western diplomacy continues to emphasize that Kosovo fulfills the terms of the Brussels Agreement of 2013 and implements the Association of Serbian Municipalities.
The West does not understand what this can lead to, but Russia does. In addition to the fact that the Western Balkans, due to the possible appearance of such an entity in Kosovo, will receive another source of ethnic tension, this will also be another “Trojan horse“ of Russian influence in the Balkans.
In such a way, Russia continues implementing its strategy of local border conflicts, which constantly threaten the European security system.
It is also worth mentioning that the Kremlin is well aware that the West is pleased with Serbia in its current form and with the current Serbian leadership. EU and the USA can criticize Vucic many times for authoritarianism, as well as not joining the sanctions against Russia, and impose sanctions on the head of Serbian intelligence, Aleksandar Vulin, but cooperation with Belgrade will not be stopped. Washington and Brussels are afraid that Serbia would “run away” under Russian influence and this would further weaken the situation in the region.
A similar approach of the West is increasingly criticized by journalists, experts, and analysts in the EU and the USA, but currently only Kosovo is under Western pressure.