By winning the legislative elections a year ago, Albin Kurti, 47, ended two decades of power for the commanders of the KLA, the Kosovo Liberation Army, including several representatives, starting with the ex-president Hashim Thaçi, are now awaiting trial for war crimes in The Hague. Leader of the Vetëvendosje movement! (“Self-determination!”), he evokes the return of the specter of war in the Albanian-speaking province which became independent in 2008.
Why do the links between Russians and Serbs worry you?
They are much stronger than people imagine, in all areas. First in the economy, particularly in energy. Gazprom owns 56% of Serbia’s oil industry and 51% of gas storage capacity. In the media, the Sputnik agency directs its operations for the Western Balkans from Belgrade; and it is enough to look at the headlines of Serbian newspapers to understand who really runs them. In terms of intelligence, Russia maintains a so-called “humanitarian center” in the city of Nis. There is also this staggering figure: 151 members of the Serbian Parliament (60% of deputies) belong to the Serbian-Russian friendship group. In Kosovo too, we have these parliamentary friendship groups with different countries, but it never exceeds twelve people.
On the territory of Kosovo, is the Serbian minority subject to the same influence?
Unfortunately, we also have Serbian far-right organizations here, which only have one leg in Belgrade, the other being in Moscow. I notice that Putin used to mention the “precedent” of Kosovo [intervention de l’OTAN en 1999] once a month, he now does it every other day to justify his hegemonic policy in Ukraine, and perhaps elsewhere. We can call it a Russian invasion, or a military aggression. All of this is true. We can also speak of Russian imperialism. But what I see myself is also fascism.
Could the war in Ukraine reignite the badly extinguished embers of the previous one? “last war in Europe”which took place in your territory in 1998-1999?
President Putin has embarked on a dead end road, apart from the logic of the worst. It’s a form of self-sabotage, he can’t back down. We are of course worried here, because the temptation for him to spread the war further seems obvious to me. Three regions are in danger. Moldova because by trying to enclave Ukraine and deprive it of access to the Black Sea, the Russians will go from Crimea to Transnistria via Odessa. The second is Georgia: South Ossetia and Abkhazia were annexed in 2008, the year Kosovo declared its independence.
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