Tensions in the Balkans are escalating as confrontations in Kosovo intensify, leading to concerns of a fresh conflict in the heart of Europe. This comes after Kosovo attempted to install ethnic Albanian mayors in regions primarily populated by ethnic Serbs, a move viewed as unrepresentative and provocative by international observers.
The move has been criticized by U.S. and EU officials, leading to an unprecedented strain in Kosovo’s diplomatic relations. Western officials fear this could provide an opportunity for Russia to reignite conflict in one of Europe’s unresolved hotspots, particularly as the Kremlin has openly expressed support for the ethnic Serbs in the region.
WSJ reported:
U.S. and European diplomats are rushing to contain spiraling violence at the heart of Europe and prevent a fresh conflict on a continent shaken by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The clashes took place in Kosovo, one of a string of small Balkan nations created after the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The eruption of violence left dozens of people wounded this week, including Italian and Hungarian servicemen.
After simmering for months, the confrontation exploded when Kosovo pushed to forcibly install ethnic Albanian mayors in areas populated by ethnic Serbs following a local election largely boycotted by the Serbs and dismissed by international observers as unrepresentative.
Tension has flared up in the region ever since Kosovo seceded from Serbia, another ex-Yugoslav state, in the late 1990s. The West supported Kosovo militarily during the secession war and Russia backed Serbia. Today, ethnic Albanians make up over 90% of Kosovo’s population, while ethnic Serbs are the majority in a small region in the north.
The latest flare-up has raised fears in Western capitals that the possibility of conflict could create an opening for Russia to reignite one of Europe’s unresolved flashpoints.
Russia, which has blocked Kosovo from joining the United Nations, has long been accused of stirring discord in the region. Posters of Russian President Vladimir Putin adorn streets in Serb-majority areas in Kosovo, and his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Wednesday that the Kremlin was supporting ethnic Serbs “without question.”
“While Europe cannot afford another crisis in the continent this crisis is a perfect opportunity for Russia to shift the focus from Ukraine to the Balkans—as evidently seen by [the] explicit statement of Russian officials encouraging Serbia to send its army to northern Kosovo,” said Ilir Deda, a former independent lawmaker from Kosovo.
The West should enact a strict road map to implementing existing agreements between the two countries and ensure new elections produce legitimate mayors, he said.
Western officials blamed the prime minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, for triggering the flare-up in the north of the country on Monday between local police and ethnic Serbs. Thirty North Atlantic Treaty Organization peacekeepers suffered wounds as they moved to restore calm. NATO, which provides troops to keep the peace in Kosovo, dispatched an additional 700 troops following the unrest.
More than 50 Serb protesters were injured and five were arrested in the standoff after Kurti deployed armored vehicles to install ethnic Albanian mayors in the Serb-populated area following elections boycotted by the Serbs.
Since Kosovo’s formal declaration of independence in 2008 following a brief war in which NATO bombed Serbia, the state has been secured by a U.N. peacekeeping force. Serbia, Russia, China and some EU, NATO and U.N. members haven’t recognized Kosovo as an independent state.
U.S. and EU officials have criticized what they said was Kurti’s forceful intervention in Serbian-majority areas and for not enforcing agreements aimed at calming communitarian tensions. As a result, Kosovo was dropped from a coming NATO military exercise.
