Kosovo PM Kurti Accuses West of ‘Appeasement’ Toward Serbia Amid Russia Concerns, Reports Reuters

By Andrew Gray

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti criticized Western officials on Friday for "appeasing" Serbia, citing exaggerated concerns about Belgrade drawing closer to Moscow.

In a conversation with Reuters in Brussels, Kurti expressed that the European Union has not effectively acted as a mediator in the implementation of a deal designed to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia, two former wartime adversaries.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Serbia has tried to navigate its traditional ties with Moscow while also maintaining its relationship with Western nations, which are a critical source of investment. Although Serbia has condemned the invasion and has not joined Western sanctions against Russia, Serbian munitions have reportedly reached Ukrainian forces, although the government denies providing them.

EU and U.S. officials have placed much of the responsibility for stalled progress on the agreement, reached in March of the previous year in Ohrid, North Macedonia, onto Kurti. He, however, contended that the West has not adequately addressed Serbian violations of the accord.

"I want Brussels to play the role of a referee who will blow the whistle whenever a violation of the agreement takes place," Kurti stated, adding, "What we have seen in these two years is that whenever Belgrade violated the agreement, Brussels did not act."

He argued that the "appeasement of Serbia" over the last two and a half years since the onset of Russian aggression in Ukraine is proving ineffective and called for an end to this strategy.

Kosovo, primarily inhabited by ethnic Albanians, declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, a move that Serbia—with support from Russia—does not recognize.

Kurti also noted that Western diplomats and officials dealing with Serbia have exhibited "too much caution or even fear" toward the Kremlin.

The EU’s diplomatic service, which was integral in brokering the Ohrid agreement, has not yet responded to requests for comment.

EU RESTRICTIONS

Last year, the EU imposed restrictions on economic aid and high-level meetings with Kurti’s administration, blaming him for an escalation of violence in the northern region of Kosovo, which has a majority-Serb population.

Additionally, EU and U.S. officials have criticized Kurti for failing to establish an association of municipalities with significant Serb populations to provide them a degree of self-government. Serbia insists that this association should precede other normalization steps and accuses Kurti of hindering progress in their EU-supported dialogue.

In the interview, Kurti expressed his willingness to discuss "self-management" for Serbs but emphasized that he would not agree to terms that compromise Kosovo’s status as a sovereign state.

He pointed out that the West’s focus on one issue is misplaced when there are multiple agreements between Serbia and Kosovo that have been ignored by Belgrade. One such obligation includes reopening the main bridge in the divided city of Mitrovica, which symbolically represents the division in Kosovo. Currently, the bridge is only accessible to pedestrians.

Kurti’s administration is pushing for the bridge to be reopened to vehicular traffic, despite warnings from Western powers that this may provoke violence and endanger local residents and NATO peacekeepers.

Kurti stated he is in consultation regarding the bridge’s future, including discussions with local Serbs, but insisted that the deliberations could not continue indefinitely.

He accused Belgrade of wanting to keep the bridge closed to maintain a division between the majority-Serb north and the rest of Kosovo.

"I believe those in Serbia who wish to keep the bridge closed are seeking to sustain the idea of partitioning Kosovo," Kurti declared. "We need to open the bridge and make Kosovo a normal place."