Kosovo PM speaks with BNT: Hybrid war is also being waged in the Western Balkans

About 4,000 people gathered in downtown Belgrade over the weekend to show their support for President Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They waved Russian flags and chanted "Serbs and Russians, brothers forever" as well as anti-NATO slogans. At a UN session, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic formally condemned the attack on Ukraine, but refused to introduce sanctions against Moscow.

Russia controls Serbia's oil and gas industry and also has veto power in the UN Security Council, which allowed it to prevent official recognition of Kosovo.

How the war in Ukraine is echoing in the Balkans - Nikolai Krastev talks with Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti in an interview with BNT programme “Svetat i nie” (The World and Us) on March 7.

Nikolai Krastev: Hello Mr Kurti, Thank you for agreeing to be our guest on Bulgarian National Television.

Albin Kurti - Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo: Hello, thank you for the invitation

Nikolai Krastev: Mr Kurti, what is Europe's forecast for the outcome of the war in Ukraine?

Albin Kurti - Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo: It is obvious that Russia's blitz war in Ukraine has failed and we are now witnessing an attempt to divide Ukraine. They will want to get as much territory as possible from Ukraine, because after these terrible crimes that have happened on the territory of Ukraine as a result of Russia's invasion and military aggression, I don't see how they can still hope to install any puppet government.

There is therefore, a great danger that they will insist on dividing Ukraine into a western and an eastern part. Thus, the eastern part will be controlled by Russia, and those Ukrainians who do not want to be ruled by Moscow will be displaced to the western part of the country. I can imagine that Moscow's ambition is for western Ukraine to be a landlocked country, that is, to have no access to the Black Sea.

Unfortunately, President Putin only thinks about territory and not about people, and that is why he wants as much of Ukraine as possible, because his desire is to restore the Russian Empire, in which he will not just be the President, but he will be the new Tsar in the 21st century.

Nikolai Krastev: Mr Kurti, are you afraid that Ukraine may become a second Bosnia? What do you think about that?

Albin Kurti - Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo: I think that repeating the Bosnia and Herzegovina model of internal partition of Ukraine is a great danger, because the division of Ukraine is very similar to the division of Bosnia. People in Ukraine have lived together until now, regardless of their nationality, religion or political beliefs.

Some of them may harbour strong sympathy for Russia, but they have nevertheless coexisted with those who harbour no sympathy for Moscow, Russia. Now, after this violence, this invasion with war machines, led by President Putin, who on the one hand is nostalgic for Russia's distant past and on the other hand is bitter about Western democracies, there could be even more violence that could destroy social cohesion inside the country, inside Ukraine.

We in the Republic of Kosovo have supported sanctions from the outset, and we have also introduced sanctions in line with the demands of the European Union against the Russian Federation, which wants to destroy a state and use war as a means of dividing societies and families, to 'territorialise' the problem by using its army as the main instrument for territorialising its presence.

This is what happened in Bosnia 30 years ago, when Serbia divided Bosnia into territories controlled by its troops, against Bosniaks, Muslims and Croats. In the case of Bosnia, Sarajevo remained outside the borders of the Republika Srpska, which represents 49% of the territory.

But in this case, I think the Russian Federation aims to achieve a siege of Kyiv, so that Kyiv is now on its way to becoming Sarajevo. In Bosnia and Herzegovina 30 years ago, the capital Sarajevo was surrounded for 3 and a half years, and now I see Kyiv in great danger of being surrounded by Russian war machines.

Nikolai Krastev: Mr Kurti, the pro-Russian propaganda claims that there is a link between Kosovo's independence and the annexation of Crimea. What would you say about this comparison? Do you see such a link?

Albin Kurti, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo: I do not see a link. But I do see the Kremlin's design to use whatever their imagination gives birth to, no matter how wrong, to justify what they have been planning for years. To help Serbia they want to use Kosovo and to justify the annexation of Crimea and Donbas they are abusing the Kosovo case.

There was a genocide in Kosovo by Serbia, and in the spring of 1999 NATO intervened in order to end this genocide. Over 12,000 unarmed civilians were killed by the Serbian military forces led by the Milosevic regime, 20,000 women were raped, over 13,000 children were killed and 860,000 Albanians from Kosovo were deported to North Macedonia, Albania or Montenegro and 80% of the population of Kosovo in the spring of 1999 were expelled from their homes.

In addition, 120,000 houses were destroyed, burnt down or severely damaged so that they became unfit for use. What happened in Kosovo was genocide and NATO intervened. Then 19 countries came together to stop the genocide being committed by Serbia.

They reached a broad consensus against Serbian occupation, apartheid, aggression and genocide. Therefore, the destruction of Kosovo came from below and after the genocide. Whereas in the case of Crimea, I saw ballot boxes while they were organising a referendum, but those ballot boxes were being carried by Russian soldiers.

Therefore, self-identification and democracy did not come from above, but from below. In the case of Kosovo, self-identification and democracy come from below, from the people who have elected their representatives, or made historic decisions.

In the case of Crimea and Donbas, the decision was taken in the Kremlin and the ballot boxes were carried by Russian soldiers, so this has nothing to do with Kosovo.

Nikolai Krastev: You are right. Many analysts say that the Balkans are a weak point and Russia is extremely active in this region. What do you think about such claims?

Albin Kurti - Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo: There is also a hybrid war in the Western Balkans. The Sputnik regional centre is located in Belgrade. In Nis, Serbia, they have the so-called Humanitarian Russian Centre and unfortunately in Serbia we see Lukoil, Gazprom, Rosatom and Sberbank, so Russia is very active in Serbia. All the 14 MiG-24 fighter aircraft that Serbia has were received from Belarus and the Russian Federation as a donation.

And that shows their orientation. Unfortunately, Belgrade has always wanted the EU's money and Russia's weapons. They want to continue in this direction, and this is the reason why they do not impose any sanctions on the Russian Federation, and this worries us, but it does not frighten us. As our biggest border is with Serbia, and Serbia does not recognise the Republic of Kosovo, we have to be careful, vigilant and watch how things develop, but we are worried that the hybrid war that has developed into a real war in Ukraine may have a similar purpose in the Western Balkans, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, or Kosovo.

We shall see, we hope it will not happen, but we cannot say that we are safe and secure. On the one hand is Serbia, and on the other hand, Putin has a direct link with some political leaders in the Western Balkans. For example, Vladimir Putin does not need to call Aleksandar Vucic to contact Milorad Dodik in Bosnia and Herzegovina. President Putin called Dodik in the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina directly. There is therefore a double threat.

On the one hand, Serbia's close ties with the Russian Federation, and on the other hand, there are players and factors in the six of the Western Balkans that are directly linked to Moscow. Let me give you an example. Of the 250 members of the Serbian Parliament, 151 are part of the Serbia-Russian Federation Friendship Group. Over 60% of the Serbian Parliament is part of this friendship group. So these ties are multi-faceted and very deep, and that is why we are monitoring the situation, because the threat is there. Kosovo is a country that wants to join the EU and NATO, while Serbia wants EU money rather than EU accession and has a negative attitude towards NATO.

Nikolai Krastev: Are you afraid of a new war in the Balkans?

Albin Kurti - Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo: The Kremlin has an interest in the war growing. When autocracy lasts long, it grows into war. Autocrats usually wage wars. President Putin has had too much power for too long, and his autocracy is despotic. I believe that he wants to create more problems for the EU and NATO because he hates the West, he hates the Western democracies. And wherever there are vulnerabilities such as disputes, disagreements, weak states I think in the coming weeks, months and years he will try to take advantage, but hopefully it will not last that long.

Nikolai Krastev: Mr Prime Minister, what happened to the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade? Are you optimistic that this moment could be the beginning of a new era?

Albin Kurti - Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo: Elections are coming up in Serbia in about a month, but in Serbia there is always uncertainty about the exact date on which the elections will be held, but not about the results. Serbia has a one-party system. Pluralism and democracy do not exist in Serbia. "Transparency International" calls it a 'hybrid regime', but in essence, a hybrid regime means autocracy.

It is not easy to have a successful dialogue with autocrats. However, we have been very constructive, creative and committed to dialogue. President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken have made it clear what agreement needs to be reached, an agreement that is legally binding and based on mutual recognition. This agreement that we are looking to reach is an agreement on normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

According to the UN General Assembly resolution of autumn 2010, the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia is a dialogue on the status of relations, not on the status of Kosovo. Kosovo's status is sovereignty, autonomy, and that is settled. The International Court of Justice of July 2010 effectively closed the legal dispute over the legitimacy and justification of the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Kosovo.

All we are doing now, following the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, the highest in the world on these matters, is to enter into dialogue in order to normalise our relations. I have suggested several things to the President of Serbia, but he has not been understanding about any of them.

For example, I proposed documents in June and July last year which contained an intention for peace, for no aggression between Kosovo and Serbia, that is to say, ruling out an attack, but he rejected them.

I also proposed reciprocity of minority rights. To agree that minorities in Kosovo should be treated in the same way that they are treated in Serbia, but again he refused. It is not easy, and I think that, to a large extent, he is still living in the past. He was Milosevic's information minister and he never clearly distanced himself from the Milosevic regime.

On the contrary, he was actively involved in denying the bloodshed and the crimes committed by the Serbian police and army in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999. Serbia's non-recognition of Kosovo on the one hand and the Serbian state's non-recognition of the crimes committed against the people of Kosovo on the other hand are not very different things.

Nikolai Krastev: Mr Prime Minister, during the Munich Security Conference a few weeks ago, you had a meeting with your Bulgarian counterpart, Mr Petkov. What are your impressions from that conversation?

Albin Kurti - Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo: It was our first meeting and I had excellent impressions of his integrity and competence. I look forward to strengthening bilateral relations between Kosovo and Bulgaria. We can strengthen trade, economic investment and cultural cooperation, but at the same time we could join forces in the fight against organised crime and corruption in the Balkan Peninsula.

The mafia in the Balkans is very well integrated across borders and, for this reason, closer cooperation between our countries is needed to ensure the rule of law. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate your viewers and the Bulgarian people on the occasion of the national holiday of 3 March - the Liberation of Bulgaria, and I would like to thank Bulgaria for recognising the independence of Kosovo and for the support you have given us in every international organisation. I hope that we will expand and strengthen our bilateral cooperation.

Nikolai Krastev: One last question, Mr Kurti. What do you think is most important in our bilateral cooperation - economy, tourism?

Albin Kurti - Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo: I think, we should work together for more investment and trade, but at the same time we have to stop all the illegal trafficking and corruption because, as the US President, Joe Biden, said, corruption and crime is a threat to national security. Therefore, not only for the sake of justice, but also for the sake of security, we should join forces in the fight against all crime and corruption.

Nikolai Krastev: Thank you for this interview, Mr Kurti. Good luck with your mission.

Albin Kurti, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo: Thank you too. Wish you all the best.

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