Kosovo FM, Serbian Police minister in war of words

STRINGER / AFP

Kosovo Foreign Minister Donika Gervala accused Serbia of launching a campaign to destabilize the Western Balkans on Monday, prompting Serbian Internal Affairs Minister to respond with counter-accusations.

Speaking at the meeting of Western Balkan Foreign Ministers with UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Gervala said that Kosovo is faced with threats from Serbia, adding that Belgrade deployed armored vehicles, troops and combat aircraft along the border several weeks earlier (following Pristina’s decision to forbid cars with Serbian license plates into Kosovo and police raids in the Serb-populated north).

She claimed that Serbia was making threats against other countries in the region in what she called “a systematic escalation of rhetoric”. Gervala cited the example of Serbian Internal Affairs Minister Aleksandar Vulin’s denial of the Racak massacre which led to the 1999 NATO air campaign. Vulin recently told the crew of a film about the events in Racak that the claims of a massacre of civilians by Serbian security forces was a lie.

Gervala said that Serb nationalists were threatening war with Kosovo, causing divisions in Bosnia-Herzegovina and trying to destabilize other countries and added that these are not isolated events but part of a systematic campaign launched by Russia and Serbia. “Just two weeks ago two Russian diplomats forced use to declare them persona non grata as a threat to our national security,” she said.

Vulin responded to the accusations saying that Pristina was failing to implement the Brussels Agreement. “The systematic destabilization of the region was launched with the announcements of the creation of Greater Albania, the arrests of Serbs and deployment of (Kosovo Police special forces) ROSU units in the north of Kosovo. The stability of the region has especially been violated by Pristina’s refusal to abide by the Brussels Agreement and form the Community of Serb Municipalities,” an Internal Affairs Ministry press release quoted Vulin as saying. He repeated his denial of a massacre of 45 Albanian civilians in the village of Racak which the Hague Tribunal confirmed.