Prishtina, 21 March 2022
Journalist: While the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters in the fourth week, there are mounting concerns about the spill of conflict further away in Western Balkans. Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing a resurgence of secessionist tendencies, while attempts to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo have ground to a halt in recent years. It was in 1999 when NATO Forces bombed Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, to stop the ethnic cleansing of Albanians by Serbs in Kosovo. This is now quite often referred to by the Russian President Putin when justifying the war in Ukraine. One of the leaders who has been outspoken against the war in Ukraine is the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti. He joins us live on the line from the capital Prishtina. Prime Minister Kurti, how concerned are you that the crisis in Ukraine might spill out to the Western Balkans and to Kosovo?
Prime Minister Kurti: Good morning to all your listeners. Well in the past, Kremlin mentioned Kosova once a month, whereas now is mentioning us several times a week, every other day, and I believe that they want to misinterpret the NATO intervention in Kosovo, to stop the genocide, in order to try to justify their imperialism, their hegemonic aspirations, and recently their invasion and military aggression against Ukraine. We have expressed from the outset our admiration and solidarity with the liberation struggle of Ukrainian people and condiment harshly this aggression of Russian Federation to Ukraine, which has been unprovoked and is absolutely unjustifiable.
Journalist: So you are speaking of a proxy military conflict?
Prime Minister Kurti: Definitely, Serbia is the only country in the region that has not put up sanctions against Russia. They have strong political, economic, and military ties. Gazprom, for example, owns 56% of the oil industry of Serbia. 151 members of parliament of Serbia, over 60%, are in the Russian-Serbia friendship group, and Serbia has 14 MIG-29 fighter jets of which 8 are donations from Belarus and 6 from Russia. Serbia spends almost 3% of GDP on its army and that is twice as much as five other Western Balkans countries combined together. So there is a militarization of Serbia which does not recognize Kosova and which by Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina is trying to render that country dysfunctional, turn it into a failed state, and ultimately get a grip there as well.
Journalist: Prime Minister Kurti, you are not speaking about historical alliances here, you are feeling under threat now?
Prime Minister Kurti: Of course, historical alliances are there but we have these very current strong and broad ties between Belgrade and Kremlin and this is very worrisome because it is in the interest of Kremlin to spread conflict elsewhere, to outsource destabilization and insecurity in the European continent in order to come to what basically despotic President Putin wants, and that is Yalta II, another Yalta Conference in which he would sit with President Biden. It is my firm conviction that President Putin does not want to sit down and negotiate with President Zelensky, actually, he wants to murder him. He wants to sit down with President Biden and that is very worrisome because they would look after other crises in European Continent where they can cause the next conflicts and wars in order to carve up Europe just as they did over 70 years ago.
Journalist: Prime Minister Kurti, it is very unusual to hear an elected leader, a Prime Minister such as yourself, on radio station saying things so clearly. Do you get the sense that other world leaders are listening to you?
Prime Minister Kurti: I think they do but at the same time, I believe that they should not be self-sufficient with this unity and solidarity of Western democracies. We have to strengthen this unity and we must render active solidarity. So we have to give all the help to the Ukrainian people but at the same time not tolerate any kind of neutrality in this conflict. You cannot be neutral between fire and fire-fighter. It is crucial now to unite and to be active in solidarity with Ukraine, but at the same time all countries in Europe which are not firmly condemning and putting sanctions to Russian Federation should be of our concern as well.
Journalist: There are accusations by Russia that Kosovo is sending fighters to fight alongside Ukrainian troops. Is that true?
Prime Minister Kurti: No citizen of Kosova has gone to fight in Ukraine. They are saying all sorts of disinformation and false allegations because this is part of their hybrid war. So hybrid war is full of lies, full of false narratives and hybrid war turns into war. We have seen it in Ukraine. Hybrid war is not a substitution for war, it is just its preparatory phase and we have to be very worried about all these false allegations because they are hints towards what happens next. Let me remind you that President Putin became Prime Minister of the Russian Federation only two months after the liberation of Kosova in 1999 and few months after the declaration of independence by Kosova in February 2008, he did annexation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. So, Western Balkans is in danger because of Belgrade not distancing themselves from Kremlin.
Journalist: So here is the question, should NATO be as it is at the moment, assisting in terms of logistics but not stepping over, not actually moving in active conflict. Are you saying that there should be perhaps a no-fly zone?
Prime Minister Kurti: NATO stopped the Serbian genocide in Kosova. 19 countries got together to stop the butcher of Balkans Slobodan Milošević after he already committed genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. So it was the second genocide in the continent of Europe after Second World War that made NATO intervene. NATO, NATO countries, people of Europe should help Ukrainian people because they are defending the entire continent.
Journalist: No-fly zone, yes or no?
Prime Minister Kurti: NATO knows the best but I think that when you see people suffering in Ukraine and at the same time Russian planes and Russian artillery bombing civilians, I don’t think what we are doing at present, including NATO, is sufficient.
Journalist: The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, speaking here on Newsday.
Last modified: August 11, 2022