Just in:
Samsung Partners National Heritage Board to Bring a Slice of Singapore’s Cultural Heritage to Samsung The Frame TV // Party Nominees Refusing To Contest: Major Perception Threat For BJP // Experts come together to support updating the city’s nature conservation masterplan // AI Boost for Galaxy Devices: Samsung Expands One UI 6.1 Update // Court Sides with Coinbase on Wallet Service, But Staking Program Remains in Limbo // Hope for Respite as UAE Endorses UN Plea for Gaza Truce // U.S. Compliance Takes Center Stage at OKX Following Industry Jitters // Experience Ultimate Shopping Freedom at 4.4 Shopee Spree: Don’t Worry, Shop Shopee! // Konica Minolta is named ASEAN 2023 Market Leader in Colour Light and Mid Digital Production Printers // HSBC Streamlines Gold Investment for Hong Kong Residents with Tokenized Product // Sunshine’s Debut Features Leave Tech World Scratching Its Head // Arvind Kejriwal Gets International Heft Against The Deshi Vishwaguru // In Lok Sabha Polls In Punjab, AAP Is Advantageously Placed As Against Its Three Rivals // Superland Announced Annual Results for 2023, 2023 Net Profit Increased approximately 39.5% to approximately HK$22.2 million as Compared to the 2022 Adjusted One // Lisboeta Macau’s world first LINE FRIENDS PRESENTS CASA DE AMIGO and BROWN & FRIENDS CAFE & BISTRO has officially opened // Near Miss at Kolkata Airport: IndiGo Plane Makes Contact with Stationary Air India Express // Ajman Celebrates Conclusion of Ramadan Activities with Grand Ceremony // No running of govt from jail, says Delhi Lt Governor // Andertoons by Mark Anderson for Thu, 28 Mar 2024 // Hullabaloo About Electoral Bonds May End Up As A Whimper Pre And Post Poll //
HomeWorldSerbia wants to annex part of Kosovo using "Crimea model" – president

Serbia wants to annex part of Kosovo using "Crimea model" – president

By Fatos Bytyci
| PRISTINA

ADVERTISEMENT

PRISTINA Serbia plans to seize a slice of northern Kosovo just as Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014, Kosovo’s president told Reuters on Monday, as the two Balkan neighbours trade accusations of wanting to ignite a new regional war.

Kosovo special police units on Saturday prevented a train painted in Serbia’s national colours and bearing the words “Kosovo is Serbia” from crossing the border.

Serbia does not recognise the independence of Kosovo, its former province, and did not seek Pristina’s permission for the passage of the train, which it paid for and organised. On Sunday Serbia’s president, Tomislav Nikolic, said Kosovo’s action had shown it wanted war with Belgrade.

Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci said the train was aimed at “provoking” Kosovars in order to create a pretext for Serbia to intervene militarily and annex northern areas of Kosovo, home to some 50,000 ethnic Serbs who refuse to accept the province’s independence and want to be governed again by Belgrade.

“Serbia’s intention is to use this train, which was donated by Russia, first to help carve away the northern part of Kosovo and then … attach it to Serbia. It is the Crimea model,” Thaci said in an interview.

He was referring to Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula, home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet and populated mainly by ethnic Russians who after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 continued to feel loyalty to Moscow rather than to the newly independent government in Kiev.

Crimea’s ethnic Russians welcomed Moscow’s annexation – carried out initially by soldiers wearing unmarked uniforms to disguise their identity – though the move also triggered Western economic sanctions against Russia.

“CHAIN REACTION”

Serbia lost control of Kosovo when NATO air strikes forced Belgrade to withdraw its troops in 1999 after they had killed 10,000 ethnic Albanian civilians. NATO still has around 5,000 troops stationed in Kosovo to keep the fragile peace.

As well as Serbia, its ally Russia and some other countries also refuse to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 independence.

After talks with Serbia’s military top brass and state security chiefs in Belgrade on Sunday, Serbia’s Nikolic threatened to send troops back into Kosovo.

“If they are killing Serbs, we will send the army, all of us will go, I will go as well, it would not be my first time,” said Nikolic, who is a former member of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party and in the 1990s fought alongside Serb paramilitaries in Croatia.

Responding to Nikolic’s remarks, Thaci said any attempt by Serbia to annex northern Kosovo would set off “a chain reaction across the whole Western Balkans”.

Belgrade and Pristina both aspire to join the European Union and normalising relations is a condition of their progress, but Serbia continues to block Kosovo’s membership of international organisations such as the United Nations.

Bilateral relations came under renewed strain this month when former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj was arrested in France on a warrant from Serbia, which accuses him of war crimes.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade; Editing by Gareth Jones)

-Reuters

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT
Just in:
Experts come together to support updating the city’s nature conservation masterplan // Hope for Respite as UAE Endorses UN Plea for Gaza Truce // No running of govt from jail, says Delhi Lt Governor // US reiterates concern over Kejriwal arrest, Cong accounts // Court Sides with Coinbase on Wallet Service, But Staking Program Remains in Limbo // Lisboeta Macau’s world first LINE FRIENDS PRESENTS CASA DE AMIGO and BROWN & FRIENDS CAFE & BISTRO has officially opened // Party Nominees Refusing To Contest: Major Perception Threat For BJP // Arvind Kejriwal Was Used By BJP In 2011 Movement To Take On The Congress // Infineon and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering jointly develop ship electrification technology // Arvind Kejriwal Gets International Heft Against The Deshi Vishwaguru // Near Miss at Kolkata Airport: IndiGo Plane Makes Contact with Stationary Air India Express // AI Boost for Galaxy Devices: Samsung Expands One UI 6.1 Update // HSBC Streamlines Gold Investment for Hong Kong Residents with Tokenized Product // Sharpening the Focus: Sharjah Health Department Refines Evaluation Criteria for “Healthy Schools Programme” // Emirates Post Speeds Up Deliveries for GCC with Special Day // Konica Minolta is named ASEAN 2023 Market Leader in Colour Light and Mid Digital Production Printers // Andertoons by Mark Anderson for Thu, 28 Mar 2024 // Superland Announced Annual Results for 2023, 2023 Net Profit Increased approximately 39.5% to approximately HK$22.2 million as Compared to the 2022 Adjusted One // AIA Hong Kong Wins More Than 20 Accolades at MPF Ratings MPF Awards, BENCHMARK MPF of The Year Awards and Bloomberg Businessweek Top Fund Awards // Meta Earth Official Website Launch: The Pioneer Explorer in the Modular Public Blockchain Domain //