What did Kurti want to achieve with the letter to Zelenski in which he compared Serbia and Russia?

Aljbin Kurti, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, has been applying the strategy of grouping Serbia into authoritarian societies, which are usually linked to Russia, for a long time.

Serbia and Russia are guided by the same logic in relation to their environment, dominance and use of force in international relations. Addressing Zelensky, in the context of the play about the conflict in the territory of Ukraine, which is prevalent in the West, Kurti is trying to cover up the true state of affairs in the Balkans, Danas interlocutors say, commenting on the letter that Kurti sent to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.

In the letter, Kurti states, among other things, that “there is nothing that Russia and Serbia would like more than to expand the conflict from Ukraine to the Western Balkans”, as well as that “there is nothing that Russia and Serbia would like more than to expand the conflict from Ukraine to the Western Balkans”.

Fadil Ljepaja, a political analyst, tells Danas that Serbia and Russia are actually guided by the same logic in relation to their environment.

• Domination and use of force in international relations. Appealing to minorities is their mechanism to reorganize neighboring countries, former members of the former SFRY or USSR, and to impose their will and interests on them. Thus, they used a violent change in the demographic structure in order to harmonize it with their state interests. The problem of Serbia and Russia is common, namely authoritarianism and ideology, instead of democracy and the rule of law. Eastern Orthodoxy, Russian and Serbian, in its revival after the fall of communism, became the official ideology of the state and society and controls the most important decision-making segments, which is completely contrary to the European spirit and the rights and freedoms of citizens that are guaranteed in the EU. Medieval Serbia, which is stronger than modern and European Serbia.

And political analyst Dragomir Anđelković believes that Kosovo and Metohija have been parts of Serbian states for centuries, regardless of the period of Ottoman occupation, from the Middle Ages to modern times.

• Those areas of ours were within Greater Albania only from 1941 to 1945 during the Nazi and fascist occupation. And the Albanians began to settle in the Kosovo-Metohija areas, more en masse, often with the seizure of Serbian homes, after the great migration of Serbs at the end of the 17th century. Hence, it is clear that the Albanians have been stealing what is Serbian for a long time, and not the other way around. Addressing Zelenski, in the context of the play about the conflict in the territory of Ukraine, which is prevalent in the West, Kruti is trying to cover up the true state of affairs in the Balkans and to falsely present the Albanians who have unquestionably occupied other people’s territory as victims – says Anđelković.

While Bojan Vranić, a political analyst, reminds that Aljbin Kurti has been applying the strategy of grouping Serbia into authoritarian societies, which are usually linked to Russia, for a long time.

• The goal of that strategy is to limit or cancel the support of Serbia from Western actors. Such parallels, especially those about imperialism, are unfounded, and therefore do not have any major effect – he concludes for Danas.