Russia is likely to expand its confrontation with the west by pressuring Serbia into undermining the independence of Kosovo and other western Balkan states, regional leaders have warned in interviews with the Guardian.<\/p>\n
They also called for the EU and Nato to speed up their approach to applications for membership from Balkans countries, and bolster defences against Russian interference.<\/p>\n
Kosovo\u2019s prime minister, Albin Kurti, warned that \u201cit is in the interest of the Russian Federation to have new battlegrounds because they do not want to go back to peace\u201d.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s president, Vjosa Osmani, predicted that \u201cRussia, by destabilising the western Balkans, will seek to destabilise the whole of the Europe\u201d and said Moscow was using Serbia to endanger democratic values.<\/p>\n
\u0160efik D\u017eaferovi\u0107, the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) member of Bosnia-Herzegovina\u2019s tripartite presidency, warned that his country was particularly vulnerable to Russian meddling, as Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of the presidency who has close links to the Kremlin, is threatening to withdraw Bosnian Serb participation from the national army, judiciary and taxation system \u2013 in effect ripping up the Dayton peace treaty that ended the war in 1995.<\/p>\n
\u201cDodik is trying to take advantage of the fact that the attention of the west is focused on Ukraine,\u201d D\u017eaferovi\u0107 told the Guardian. \u201cHe is encouraged in his behaviour by Russia, which is always keen on showing that it can destabilise the soft underbelly of the EU and Nato. Western governments should consider this much more seriously and engage more actively and strongly in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the whole region.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are dark days for Europe and the whole world. We are witnessing something that is horrible. We saw a similar horror here in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s,\u201d D\u017eaferovi\u0107 said.<\/p>\n
Osmani said the appeasement of autocrats such as Vladimir Putin and the Serbian president, Alexsandar Vu\u010di\u0107, had been shown not to work in Ukraine. She warned: \u201cRussia is likely to use either the Baltics or the western Balkans \u2013 or both \u2013 to raise tensions and expand the crisis internationally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kurti said: \u201cI fear that the longer the war lasts in Ukraine, the greater the chances of spillover in the western Balkans. And that is because it is in the interest of the Russian Federation to have new battlegrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPutin still considers Nato intervention in Kosovo as the most important recent international single event,\u201d Kurti said. \u201cHe wants the state of Kosovo to fail in order to show that Nato success was temporary, just like in Iraq and Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their remarks came as the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, started a tour of the western Balkans including Kosovo, saying she was determined to send a message that Europe was not going to let the region fall under the influence of Russia.<\/p>\n
Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro have all redoubled their calls for serious progress to be made on stalled applications to join Nato and the EU.<\/p>\n
Kosovo is also applying to join the Council of Europe \u2013 from which Russia is resigning. Osmani said: \u201cEverything we see in Ukraine brings back memories of the heavy price we had to pay to achieve our freedom. So we may be a small country, but we hope we have a big voice to say there is no price too high to defend democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kurti and Osmani, members of different parties but partners in government, face a particular hurdle, since four EU countries have yet to recognise Kosovo.<\/p>\n
Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, nearly a decade after a bloody liberation struggle that saw the Nato air force bomb Belgrade as the alliance came close to a direct confrontation with Russia \u2013 something it has not been prepared to do in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Serbia, itself an aspirant to EU membership, is performing a delicate balancing act between its European aspirations and close cultural and political ties with Russia. Earlier this month, thousands of people waved Russian flags and pictures of Putin at a pro-Moscow demonstration after the invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Vu\u010di\u0107 has repeatedly pointed out that the country abstained in the recent key vote at the UN general assembly, rather than support Russia.<\/p>\n
Osmani pointed out: \u201cBelgrade is the only place in Europe with pro-Putin protests, with politicians saying they support the aggression. They are the only country in Europe that has not aligned itself with EU sanctions. Quite the opposite \u2013 they have increased the number of flights from Belgrade to Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kurti said: \u201cNeutrality is siding with the aggressor. It is the most indecent thing you can do. You cannot be neutral between fire and firefighter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kurti said that Serbia spends almost 3% of its GDP on military equipment and training \u2013 most of which comes from Russia. \u201cThey have 14 MiG-29 fighter jets, eight of them donations from Belarus and six from the Russian Federation \u2013 and you know, donations from the Russian Federation come with a price tag.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russia is likely to expand its confrontation with the west by pressuring Serbia into undermining the independence of Kosovo and other western Balkan states, regional leaders have warned in interviews with the Guardian. They also called for the EU and Nato to speed up their approach to applications for membership from Balkans countries, and bolster […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[338,1243,633,4828],"class_list":{"0":"post-248893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-russia","9":"tag-serbia","10":"tag-vladimir-putin","11":"tag-western-balkans"},"yoast_head":"\n