Some worrying developments have been emerging in the Balkans over the weekend, with Kosovo’s government accusing neighboring Serbia of trying to destabilize the country as ethnic Serbs blocked roads and conducted other incidents in the north, ostensibly in a dispute over vehicle license plates and identity cards.
Officials in Kosovo had decided to resume the practice of requiring vehicles that enter from Serbia to replace Serbia license plates with Kosovo plates, with the reverse required by Serbia for vehicles from Kosovo that go to Serbia.
Kosovo also is planning to block its ethnic Serb minority from using only the Serbian identity cards when crossing the border.
And a Kosovo government statement said many “aggressive acts” occurred on Sunday, including the blocking of roads and shooting in the northern areas dominated by ethnic Serbs – and suggested they were incited by Serbia.
Kosovo was part of Serbia until an armed uprising in 1998-1999 by the territory’s ethnic Albanian majority triggered a bloody crackdown by Serbs. A NATO bombing campaign to force Serbia’s troops out of Kosovo ended the war.
But Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence – a refusal shared by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, who has repeatedly expressed support for Serbia.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and President Vjosa Osmani blamed Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic for the protests.
“Vucic and (Petar) Petkovic are the main responsible persons for the riots,” Kurti wrote on Facebook. Petkovic is Belgrade’s official in charge of Kosovo.
Osmani also wrote on Facebook that “Vucic’s efforts to destabilize Kosovo” would fail.
Indeed, an MP from Mr. Vucic’s ruling party said Serbia would need to begin the “denazification of the Balkans” – using near-identical language to that routinely employed by the Kremlin as a widely derided justification for its invasion of Ukraine.
In comments that echo the views of increasing numbers of geopolitical commentators, Ms. Osmani said just days ago that she believed Mr. Putin could be seeking to use her country as a means of widening his own conflict while destabilizing the continent.
“Putin’s aim is to expand the conflict in other parts of the world,” she said.
“Since his aim has constantly been to destabilize Europe, we can expect that one of his targets might be the Western Balkans.”
It comes amid increasing instability in another of Serbia’s neighboring countries, Bosnia.
There, the radical leader of pro-Serbian factions, Milorad Dodik, triggered a political crisis by withdrawing his party from national institutions.
Experts have said Mr. Putin has also been working with Serbia there to exacerbate ethnic divisions between Croats, Bosniaks, and Serbs.
Source: skynews.com