Serbia wants to annex part of Kosovo as "Crimea model" - Kosovo president

Record ID: 164401

  • Title: Serbia wants to annex part of Kosovo as "Crimea model" - Kosovo president
  • Date: 16th January 2017
  • Summary: PRISTINA, KOSOVO (JANUARY 16, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF KOSOVO PRESIDENT'S OFFICE KOSOVO FLAG FLYING KOSOVO PRESIDENT HASHIM THACI ENTERING ROOM REUTERS JOURNALIST AND THACI SITTING (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) KOSOVO PRESIDENT, HASHIM THACI, SAYING: "Serbia's intention is to use this train, which was donated by Russia, first to help carve away the northern part of Kosovo and then attach it to Serbia. It is the Crimea model." (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) KOSOVO PRESIDENT, HASHIM THACI, SAYING: "Belgrade calls for war and I respond to them with peace, calls for territory and ethnic divisions or for the change of the borders, I respond with calls for integration in the NATO and the EU, good neighbourly relations and cooperation." (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) KOSOVO PRESIDENT, HASHIM THACI, SAYING: "The same people that ruled the (Serbian) government in 1998-1999 and in 1992-1995 during the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo are still leading the Serbian government, the presidency and the Serbian army." NOTES LYING ON THE TABLE / THACI LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) KOSOVO PRESIDENT, HASHIM THACI, SAYING: "I would not like for Serbia to start again a war of Balkan proportions because now there are no isolated conflicts. Serbia's provocations towards all of its neighbours including Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo or Montenegro are worrying. Therefore, it is time for the international community to raise their attention regarding Serbia's behaviour that is endangering peace and stability in Western Balkans." STREET IN PRISTINA VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET
  • Embargoed: 30th January 2017 18:07
  • Keywords: Kosovo train Serbia president
  • Location: PRISTINA, KOSOVO AND BELGRADE, SERBIA
  • City: PRISTINA, KOSOVO AND BELGRADE, SERBIA
  • Country: Kosovo
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0025ZC037R
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Serbia plans to seize a slice of northern Kosovo just as Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014, Kosovo's president told Reuters on Monday (January 16) as the two neighbours trade accusations of seeking to ignite a new Balkan war.
    Kosovo special police units on Saturday (January 14) prevented a train painted in Serbia's national colours and bearing the words "Kosovo is Serbia" from crossing the border.
    Thaci said the train was aimed at "provoking" Kosovars in order to create a pretext for Serbia to intervene militarily and annex northern areas of Kosovo, home to some 50,000 ethnic Serbs who refuse to accept the province's independence and want to be governed again by Belgrade.
    He was referring to Ukraine's Crimea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 and populated mainly by ethnic Russians who after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 continued to feel loyalty to Moscow rather than to the newly independent government in Kiev.
    "Serbia's intention is to use this train, which was donated by Russia, first to help carve away the northern part of Kosovo and then... attach it to Serbia. It is the Crimea model," Kosovo President Hashim Thaci said in an interview.
    Serbia does not recognise the independence of Kosovo, its former province, and did not seek Pristina's permission for the passage of the train, which it paid for and organised.
    On Sunday (January 15), Serbia's president, Tomislav Nikolic, said Kosovo's action had shown it wanted war with Belgrade.
    Responding to Nikolic's remarks, Thaci said any attempt by Serbia to annex northern Kosovo would set off a chain reaction across Western Balkans.
    "I would not like for Serbia to start again a war of Balkan proportions because now there are no isolated conflicts. Serbia's provocations towards all of its neighbours including Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo or Montenegro are worrying. Therefore, it is time for the international community to raise their attention regarding Serbia's behaviour that is endangering peace and stability in Western Balkans," Thaci said.
    Belgrade and Pristina both aspire to join the European Union and normalising relations is a condition of their progress, but Serbia continues to block Kosovo's membership of international organisations such as the United Nations.
    Bilateral relations came under renewed strain this month when former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj was arrested in France on a warrant from Serbia, which accuses him of war crimes.
    Serbia lost control of Kosovo when NATO air strikes forced Belgrade to withdraw its troops in 1999 after they had killed 10,000 ethnic Albanian civilians. NATO still has around 5,000 troops stationed in Kosovo to keep the fragile peace.
    As well as Serbia, its ally Russia and some other countries also refuse to recognize Kosovo's 2008 independence.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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