The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, commenting on the opinion of the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti regarding the armament of Serbia and its proximity to Russia, has said that Serbia will continue to arm itself as a preventive sign against aggressive types such as Albin Kurti and some others.
Aleksandar Vucic said that Kurti suffers to wear the uniform and act like a little Zelensky in the Western Balkans.
Kurti in an opinion published today in the New York Times, which mainly referred to NATO, among other things, wrote that even though Kosovo’s democracy is growing, the threats to its security are also growing.
“In September, heavily armed Serbian paramilitary troops whom we believe came from Serbia took up positions at the Orthodox Banjska Monastery in what the U.S. government called a highly organized effort that included sophisticated weapons. Serbian military forces mobilized near our border, a move criticized by the United States as “destabilizing.” Last year NATO increased its troops from 3,770 to about 4,500 amid the increasing threats to peace. Political challenges remain, too. In 2017, Aleksandar Vucic, a former minister of propaganda under Milosevic, became Serbia’s president. His rise marked a return to Milosevic’s authoritarian, ethnonationalist politics, especially the expansionist kind. The authoritarian politics of Belgrade made life especially difficult for ethnic Serbs in Kosovo. They had to navigate their role as a minority in a new country with an approximate 93 percent ethnic Albanian population and 7 percent consisting of other minorities, including Roma and Turks. Serbia has impeded this integration. It took bravery for ethnic Serbs to join the institutions and become active participants in the country”, wrote Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
According to Kurti, a new front in the Balkans would serve Russia as much as Serbia.
“Serbia could try to gain territory through aggression and Russia could gain a stronger hold on Serbia as a satellite, in addition to distracting the world from the war it is waging in Ukraine. Under Mr. Vucic, Serbia has invested heavily both in its military and in military cooperation with Russia. A 2019 report by the U.S. Defense Department concluded that “Serbia provides the most permissive environment for Russian influence in the Western Balkans.” Kosovo, by contrast, could not provide a less permissive environment. We have remained staunchly pro-Western”, wrote Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
