Tag: Kosovo

Russia-Serbia relations in process

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Brussels 02.08.2022 The issue of Serbia’s possible membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has not yet been included on the agenda, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday, August 1.

“Frankly speaking, such an issue has not been on the agenda,” the Kremlin official said replying to a question on the matter.

Putin’s press secretary could not answer a question whether an agreement with Serbia, similar to agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual aid with the sefl-proclaimed Donbass Republics, was possible.

“You know that we have allied, very sincere and very profound relations with Serbia. So, undoubtedly, our relations should continue to develop and the legal base will develop but I cannot say at the moment whether there will be such elements,” he explained.

On Sunday night, July 31, the situation in Kosovo and Metohija sharply escalated after Kosovo’s police had closed a checkpoint on the border with Serbia, intending to introduce a ban on Serbian documents on Monday. In response, Serbs in the north of Kosovo took to the streets and blocked key highways. The police and the Kosovo Force (KFOR), a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, were pulled to the bridge across the Ibar River, which links Kosovska Mitrovica’s northern and southern parts.

As a result of international efforts, Pristina decided to postpone the procedure of banning Serbian documents until September 1.

Western Balkans Pandora box Summit

Blog, Europe

Anna van Densky OPINION.

Western Balkans Summit is a lively event in Bulgarian capital Sofia,  assembling leaders from the EU member states, and the countries (and disputed territories) of colorful and rich in diversity mountain region, sometimes even too diverse for achieving the integration and cohesion promoted by Brussels strategists. In essence the Western Balkans represent a permanent challenge for the EU, regarding the inclusion into the bloc as the final chapter, closing the entire book of Yugoslav wars, which shook the continent two decades ago. Happy end. However there are some elements, indicating that Brussels plans  to integrate Western Balkans in the bloc is nothing more than a fata morgana, a vision of an exhausted traveller of an oasis with green palm trees in the sands of a desert…

Approaching the painful ‘divorce’ with the UK, the second largest net contributor to the EU purse, Brussels started to look at #WestBalkans with a special warmth in the eyes and voice, diverting public attention from #Brexit as the major failure to another direction –the enlargement project ‘of a great potential’ for the ‘old and tired’ Western Europe. We are loosing in the north, but winning in the south, so nevertheless the EU is ‘up and running’ reads the message of the Eurocentrics, attempting to preserve the fading image of the European project by ignoring losses and focusing on the wins. But are there any?..

It has been some time already that the European citizens have an opportunity to enjoy the enchanting resorts of Croatia, regarding the country as a ‘success model’ of the EU Enlargement policy in the Western Balkans. And now : Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and disputed Kosovo – are the ones to integrate, the WB6. However, even if putting aside the problems of rise of Albanian mafia,  or the drug trafficking, indicating that the most heroin reaching the EU from Afghanistan flows through Kosovo.

Even if  putting aside the problems of illegal mass migration exploiting the  routes for Middle East strangers entering Bosnia from Serbia as the result of a visa-free regime introduced last year between Serbia and Iran. Even if excluding the West Balkans role in the human trafficking, being both destination and transit place. And also if we drop the issues of corruption. If one regards only  a political dimension, the Western Balkans represent a Pandora box for the EU. From a first glance it is clear that the Sofia Summit represents a high risk project to an extend the Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy prefered to leave the scene even before the launch of the event to avoid the parallels between Kosovo and Catalonia claims of independence.

Just passing by to say ‘hello’, prime minister Rajoy prefers not to enter the Summit to avoid the confrontation with the sui generis case of unilateral independence of Kosovo. However will the diplomatic maneuver save Spain from Balkanization? Jure humāno…

Kosovo: bleeding wounds

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kosovo-church

“Many victims of the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo*,  in particular displaced persons, families of missing persons and victims of wartime sexual violence, are still trying to re-build their  lives, find out the truth about their loved ones and access justice.”

“The on-going political deliberations have not focused sufficiently on the needs of victims, leaving them with the feeling of abandonment and hopelessness. A paradigm shift is necessary in order to put the victims at the centre of the political dialogue, and prioritise their human rights,” – said today the Council of Europe  Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, at the end of his four-day mission to Kosovo.

The Commissioner is concerned that more than 15 years after the conflict around 16 500 persons belonging to all communities remain internally displaced in Kosovo, while some 20 000 displaced persons from Kosovo to Serbia have not yet managed to return home despite their wish. About 470 displaced persons are accommodated in 29 collective centres throughout Kosovo, including the collective centre “Samacki dom”, in northern Mitrovica, that the Commissioner visited.