Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti declared that Brussels and Washington have bet on the wrong horse in Serbia, President Aleksandar Vučić, who ended up being “a fox instead of a horse”.
According to Kurti, who spoke to Croatian newspaper “Večernji List”, no one had imagined that a year and five months after the Russian aggression in Ukraine, Serbia would not impose sanctions against Moscow, but would allow Sputnik to open a regional base in Belgrade.
Referring to the European Union and the United States, Kurti states “instead of introspection, they attack me. Brussels and Washington allowed Vučić not to sign the Brussels and Ohrid agreements, then allowed him to tread on it and here we are in a situation where there is a drastic asymmetry in approaches. Punitive measures against me, and on the other hand, forgiveness for President Vučić. This is an injustice. However, they say these measures will be short-term, temporary and reversible, so let us wait and see. We are in regular contact with the international community, but we also have our small differences as far as tactics and at times, strategies are concerned. But we have no differences in values, interests and goals.”
Commenting on the demands of the European Union and the United States for de-escalation in northern Kosovo and normalizing relations with Serbia, Kurti said they completely agree.
“As far as de-escalation, withdrawal of police units and snap elections, this is something they have requested and we are positive about it. We positively respond to this request. But I cannot immediately withdraw police from those buildings because of parallel illegal elements of Serbia there. This is why I have responded to their request, proportionally and gradually decreasing the number of police officers. On the other hand, I have said that I cannot force anyone into resigning or leaving municipal buildings, which are in fact, property of our Republic, but I have invited everyone to hold snap elections.”
The situation in northern Kosovo – an area populated mostly by Serbs – has been tense since the end of May when the Kosovo Police assisted new Albanian mayors of Zvecan, Leposavic, and Zubin Potok in entering municipal buildings despite the resistance of local Serbian residents.
Tensions escalated into violence on May 29 when Serbian protesters in Zvecan clashed with soldiers from the NATO mission, KFOR.
Dozens were reported injured on both sides.
The international community has held Kosovo responsible for the tensions created, while Kosovo and Serbia have blamed each other.
