Will There Be War in Kosovo Again? Serb Leader Assassinated in Pristina

A rapid deterioration of the situation in Kosovo, one of Europe's most troubled regions. Today, Belgrade broke off negotiations with Pristina. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic summoned an emergency Security Council and addressed the nation.

A rapid deterioration of the situation in Kosovo, one of Europe's most troubled regions. Today, Belgrade broke off negotiations with Pristina. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic summoned an emergency Security Council and addressed the nation. The reason was the murder of the famous Kosovo Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic. Who is this person and why can his death stir up the whole Balkan region?

Andrey Medvedev with the details.

 

Four bullets from a drive-by shooting resuscitation, unsuccessful attempts by doctors to do something. The life of a Serbian politician in today's Kosovo is unlikely to end differently especially in Ivanovic's case. It would be difficult to find a more consistent defender of the Serbian population or a harsher critic of the Albanian policies, and the West standing behind them.

He was born and raised in Kosovo and fought for it to remain a part of Serbia. In 2016, he was arrested by the Albanian authorities and accused of genocide during the war of 1999. After no evidence of his guilt was found, he was released. And now, he was murdered right in front of his party office.

The date of the shooting, or rather, the public execution, wasn't chosen at random: On January 16, Belgrade and Pristina were going to hold negotiations in Brussels. Because of the murder, the Serbian delegation returned to Belgrade, refusing to discuss anything at the moment. The President made an unusually tough statement.

Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian President: "For Serbia, this is a terrorist attack, and we'll respond accordingly. We sent to the UN and EU Missions in Kosovo, not our requests, but our demands, that the Serbian state agencies take part in the investigation on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija".

In reality, Serbia has neither the strength nor an opportunity, to influence the situation in Kosovo there is no way to argue with Brussels. On the contrary, Belgrade is trying to establish relations with the EU even at the expense of its own interests.

For Kosovo Serbs, the murder of Ivanovich committed in the northern Serbian part of Kosovo Mitrovica, which is divided between the Albanian and Serb communities is another sign. A reminder that they are outsiders in Kosovo now.

Bozidar Delic, former deputy speaker of the Serbian parliament: "The fact that Ivanovic had been kept in prison for so long, without any evidence, was a message from Albanians to Serbs. And what happened today, the murder of such a high-level politician is yet another message to Serbs."

Ethnic clashes in the region inhabited by Serbs and Albanians since the time of the Ottoman Empire began in the mid-90s, when the West did everything they could, to dismantle the once powerful Balkan state of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was a sort of testing ground where they developed the blueprint of future color revolutions and the creation of new quasi-states.

The Kosovo project began in 1998. Local Albanians created a terrorist organization called the Kosovo Liberation Army and began killing the Serbian population. In response, Belgrade sent police and military units to the region. The West accused the Serbs of genocide and started bombing Yugoslavia in 1999, and Kosovo was occupied by the NATO-forces. In 2008, Kosovo proclaimed its independence.

By that time, all former Albanian warlords and terrorists had positions in the government. And the Serbian population in the region decreased by several times, after pogroms, murders, and ethnic cleansing. Kosovo is a special place for every Serb. It's the birthplace of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Patriarchate, where the first monasteries emerged, and the first book in the Serbian language. The name of the city where the murder occurred, Kosovska Mitrovica is derived from the name of the church of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki built in 1314. The Serbs are being deprived of both their land and their historical memory.

Elena Guskova, history Ph.D.: "Belgrade gave an enormous amount of rights to Albanians basically making them independent They had their own border, their own passports, their own customs checkpoints, and so on. Serbs felt unprotected".

The Serbian President promised to monitor the actions of the Kosovo police and the EU mission and the progress of the investigation. The police promised a reward for information about the killers.

But almost no one in the region believes the crime will be solved. Because, for example, neither Albanian authorities, nor, Western diplomats, nor the police mission didn't even investigate the mass murder of Serbs for the purpose of illegally obtaining donor organs.

Andrey Medvedev Vesti