Albanian Language Media:

• Kurti: We are working to ease the energy crisis (media)
• PDK wants government to react to Vulin’s remarks about Recak massacre (RFE)
• “Kosovo to prosecute war crimes suspects according to chain of command” (Koha)
• Osmani receives credentials of Ambassador of Lithuania, Jurate Raguckiene (media)
• Kosovo, Albania unveil joint project for railway link (Prishtina Insight)
• Results of test samples for Omicron variant to arrive this month (Express)
• In four months, 89 percent of COVID-19 fatalities were not vaccinated (Koha)
• COVID-19: 8 new cases, no deaths (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Covid-19: 33 new cases registered in Serbian areas on Saturday (Radio KIM)
• Vucic: We continue strengthening army due to complicated security situation (N1)
• Avenija: Ungrounded arrests of Serbs disgrace for Kosovo society and international community (Radio KIM)
• Darko Dimitrijevic elected new president of Association of Journalists of Serbia branch in Kosovo (Radio KIM)
• Petkovic reacts to Gervala’s statement, says Pristina rhetoric “inflammatory and anti-Serbian” (Radio KIM)
• Odalovic: Families of missing persons should address Lajcak for support (Radio KIM)
• Selakovic in London, to meet Lajcak, Peach and Escobar (media, GoS website)

International:

• Richard Grenell Exclusive Interview: The Serbia-Kosovo Agreement Was Not Just For Christmas (The Pavlovic Today)

Albanian Language Media  

Kurti: We are working to ease the energy crisis (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said today that his government was working to ease the energy situation. Comparing the situation to the energy crisis in Europe, he said: “we will not have an easy situation with energy either. The consumption of electricity is very high now. We are working together to have a good energy situation … At the latest government meeting, we addressed the energy crisis that is knocking on our doors. We are the last to be caught by the crisis. Countries in the region have been facing this crisis for some time now. It is true that we are buying electricity at a high cost and selling it cheap. The distribution network and production facilities in Kosovo are outdated and the energy consumption has gone up. This morning for example at 08:00 we produced 720 megawatts and the consumption this morning was over 1,000 megawatts. The consumption is higher because it is winter but also because of our way of living. Another reason is that electricity is cheap. Together with the line ministers, KEDS, KEK and the Energy Regulatory Office, we are working to ease the energy crisis,” Kurti said.

PDK wants government to react to Vulin’s remarks about Recak massacre (RFE)

Representatives of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), the biggest opposition party, criticised the Kurti-led government today for not reacting to a statement by Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin who said that the Recak massacre in January 1999 was “a big lie and a fabrication”.

PDK MP Ardian Kastrati said in today’s session of the Kosovo Assembly: “Aleksandar Vulin said that [the massacre in] Recak was a fabrication. It is not that we don’t expect this from him, but it is surprising that the government did not react. The United States and the European Union have reacted. What reactions came from Kosovo about this statement? It is shameful to make a poor reaction, I am not talking only about the government, but for Kosovo and its society as a whole”.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who was present at the session did not comment on the PDK MP’s remarks. Kurti’s office also did not respond to questions from the news website about the issue on Friday.

Assembly President Glauk Konjufca said that Kosovo reacts through court proceedings against people that deny these massacres. “Do not degrade the dignity, suffering and the sacrifice of the people of Kosovo,” Konjufca said.

“Kosovo to prosecute war crimes suspects according to chain of command” (Koha)

The Prishtina-based Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) said in a statement today that Kosovo’s political parties and line institutions should not deal with statements by Aleksandar Vucic and Aleksandar Vulin, “but strengthen the judicial institutions in order to create conditions for filing indictments based on the political chain of command”.

“It is concerning that political parties in Kosovo have fallen in the trap of Vucic and Vulin by turning the statements of two Serbian criminals into a dishonest war between the opposition and the government in Kosovo instead of cooperating and giving an institutional response,” the statement notes.

Osmani receives credentials of Ambassador of Lithuania, Jurate Raguckiene (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani received today at a meeting the Ambassador of Lithuania, Jurate Raguckiene on the occasion of the presentation of her letters of credence and whom she congratulated on her new tenure, wishing her lots of success in her engagement. At the meeting, Osmani said Kosovo expects the support of the Lithuanian state in its efforts for membership in international organizations.

A press release issued by Osmani’s office notes that the President “emphasized the risk of destabilization from the expansion of Russian influence and of their exponents in Serbia. According to her, unity and reaction against destabilizing tendencies in the region are required.”

Kosovo, Albania unveil joint project for railway link (Prishtina Insight)

Planned Prishtina-Durrës railway project aims to connect Kosovo to major European transport corridors – and is described as having geo-political as well as economic importance.

Kosovo’s Minister of Infrastructure, Spatial Planning and Transport, Liburn Aliu, on Thursday presented the project to build a railway line between Kosovo and Albania, linking the  Kosovo capital of Prishtina to Durrës on the Adriatic. 

Aliu said construction of this railway will make Kosovo an important link for the distribution of goods, connecting it further to the region and elsewhere by rail. “This project will connect Kosovo to the main [transport] pan-European corridors,” Aliu said.

The Minister said that the project had been presented in Brussels to obtain funding for its implementation. He said the European Union was willing to help Kosovo with funds from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, IPA.

Aliu said the three pan-European railway corridors operating in the region all bypass Kosovo. But, with the construction of the Prishtina-Durres railway line, Kosovo would become an important connecting point between these corridors.

This project is a result of the agreement signed between the two countries on November 26 this year in Elbasan, where the seventh annual meeting between the governments of Kosovo and Albania took place.

Kosovo has so far allocated 1 million euros for the feasibility project for the first phase, based on assumptions that it would cost that much. Aliu said the feasibility project will also include a Land Port [Porti Tokësor] .

“This project is getting on its way and we are at the stage when we can draft a plan, which will be done quickly, and will give us clear timelines and costs for the project,” he said.

One of the possible routes of this railway will  be the corridor through the Drini Valley, which connects Shkodra in northern Albania with Gjakova in western Kosovo and then Prishtina.

According to Aliu, a Prishtina-Durrës railway will be a very important corridor for the distribution of goods from the Port of Durrës and of Tivar.

For the Albania and Kosovo governments, the planned Durrës-Prishtina railway line has geo-political importance as well, not only economic.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti on November 26 stated that the Durrës-Prishtina railway line would be “of economic as well as geopolitical importance, as it helps the region, our neighbours, with whom we have a common past, but who we will also share the future with”.

In addition to the agreement on the Durrës-Prishtina railway, 12 other agreements were signed at the Elbasan meeting, which have to do with facilitating the free movement of people on both sides of the border, obtaining residence and work permits, opening a new border crossing at Shishtavec-Kukës, and mutual shortening of procedures for the recognition of diplomas and scientific degrees.

Results of test samples for Omicron variant to arrive this month (Express)

Kosovo’s National Institute for Public Health has yet to receive the results of 30 test samples for the Omicron variant of COVID-19 it sent to Germany on December 7. Representatives of the Institute told the news website that they will get the results this month.

In four months, 89 percent of COVID-19 fatalities were not vaccinated (Koha)

Kosovo’s Ministry of Health said in a statement today that 1,435 persons infected with COVID-19 passed away in the period between August 1 and December 1 in Kosovo, and that 1,280 of them were not vaccinated (89 percent). The Ministry appealed to the citizens that vaccines play a crucial role in preventing infection, fatalities and hospitalizations from COVID-19.

COVID-19: 8 new cases, no deaths (media)

Eight new cases with COVID-19 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo.  Six persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 323 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Serbian Language Media

Covid-19: 33 new cases registered in Serbian areas on Saturday (Radio KIM)

Out of 114 tested samples in the Serb-populated areas in Kosovo, 33 tested positive for Covid-19, Crisis Committee of Mitrovica North announced on Saturday, Radio KIM reports.

The new cases were registered as follows: 14 in Zubin Potok, 11 in Mitrovica North, four in Zvecan, two in Leposavic and one each in Gracanica and Priluzje.

Currently there are 420 active cases in the Serbian areas in Kosovo, while 121 persons have completed two-week isolation period.

A total of 188 people have died in the Serbian areas since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Vucic: We continue strengthening army due to complicated security situation (N1)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated in Nis that the security situation in the world and the region is becoming more complicated adding Serbia must develop its capacities so that the army would be a sufficient deterrent for all those who would threaten the country, N1 reports.

“Growing conflicts in Eastern Europe, the economic-energy-political conflict between the West and China and the West and Russia and overturning of interests of large and regional powers give us the obligation to further strengthen the Serbian army”, Vucic said after seeing the Self-Propelled Howitzer Division “NORA B-52 M15“ work and the demonstration of the exercise at the Lisinac position.

He also said he talked with representatives of the Serbian Army about the five-year plan (2022-2027) for the programs of equipping, arming and replenishing the army with recruits.

According to him, over €500 million will have to be allocated annually, more than what has been allocated so far.

Assessing that there will be major breakdowns in the region, but also in Europe due to electricity and gas, Vucic said that it was important for Serbia to have an army as a guarantor of security and safety, which would be a “deterrent for anyone who wanted to threaten it”.

Avenija: Ungrounded arrests of Serbs disgrace for Kosovo society and international community (Radio KIM)

“The arrest case of Dusan Arsic from Maticane near Pristina at Jarinje administrative crossing was only confirmation that Serbs are being arrested without any material evidence, but only based on the false reports of Albanians and those being, as per rule, usurpers of their properties or those engaged for that purpose by the usurpers”, Gracanica-based business-women association Avenija said in a statement, Radio KIM reports.

Avenija added in a statement that since the arrival of the international community in Kosovo and Metohija “ungrounded arrests of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija” were taking place, and mostly of those “who dared” to reclaim their property, respectively to exercise their ownership rights.

“Those ungrounded arrests and verdicts against the Serbs are not only disgrace for the Kosovo society and its institutions pretending to be democratic, but also of an entire international community present in the area of Kosovo and Metohija whose members almost made no statement thus far when it comes to the endangered human rights of Serbs nor stood up for their protection. Shameful arrest of the Serbs wishing to return to Kosovo or reclaim their usurped and confiscated properties only point out and support the thesis that Kosovo was a black whole of Europe and the world when it comes to human rights”, Avenija said.

Avenija recalls that Arsic was arrested only a few days after he submitted the request to reclaim his property in the village of Maticane, where he lived until 1999 and then left with his family.

Avenija also said “that we bear witness that the verdicts in most of the cases of Serbs convicted at Kosovo courts were made without evidence, without adequate witnesses and what is the worst, some of the verdicts were made even when witnesses have not recognized Serb defendants”.

Dusan Arsic, was arrested on December 8, 2021 at the administrative crossing point of Jarinje, and is accused of allegedly committing war crimes against civilian population in the village of Butovce. He is sent to one-month detention.

Darko Dimitrijevic elected new president of Association of Journalists of Serbia branch in Kosovo (Radio KIM)

Editor-in-Chief of Radio Gorazdevac, Darko Dimitrijevic is elected new President of the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) branch in Kosovo, Radio KIM reports.

Addressing colleagues at the electoral assembly in Gracanica, Dimitrijevic promised that he will continue working on the foundations already built upon in the previous period.

“We shall strive for the truth to find perpetrators of all ill-deeds committed against journalists, those that have been murdered or kidnaped, but also to find out who demolishes the memorial plaque to our missing colleagues Ranko Perenic and Djuro Slavuj eight times (…)”, Dimitrijevic said.

He added he will work together with the association and journalists to have the house of journalists finally reconstructed.

Dimitrijevic also said it was very important that journalists continue fighting for freedom.

“It is not natural for journalists to be a ringing bell on politicians’ neck. We should echo freedom, that our word is respected, to point out problems and to be what we are supposed to be by the function we perform and it is to be a corrective factor and mirror of the society, that would indicate what society should be like in the future. Therefore, to promote all those values that would contribute to the general public interest”, he said.

Also, on Saturday new members of the Executive Board were elected including Zoran Babovic, Zorica Vorgucic, Verica Vukojevic, Maja Milenkovic, Olivera Radic and Maja Ficovic. 

Petkovic reacts to Gervala’s statement, says Pristina rhetoric “inflammatory and anti-Serbian” (Radio KIM)

Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Director Petar Petkovic reacted to the statement of Kosovo Foreign Minister Donika Gervala that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and official Belgrade “were cause of instability in the region”, saying that such statements aim at taking off the responsibility of Pristina for the stalemate in the dialogue and drastically increased number of incidents against the Serbs in Kosovo, Radio KIM reports.

He termed Gervala’s statement as “inflammatory and anti-Serbian”. Only one day earlier, Petkovic added Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and his associates “accused official Belgrade, without any grounds, of not wishing to shed the light on the destiny of missing persons, although it is Belgrade insisting on that topic at every round of the dialogue”.

Petkovic also said “it would be better for Pristina to prepare for the dialogue and resolve the problems of people in Kosovo and Metohija, instead of provoking official Belgrade with their statements and actions”. 

Odalovic: Families of missing persons should address Lajcak for support (Radio KIM)

Chairperson of the Serbian Government Missing Persons Commission, Veljko Odalovic said on Friday families of missing Serbs and Albanians, looking for remains of their family members who went missing following the conflict in 1999, should address the EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak, in order to gain additional support in the process of searching for missing persons, Radio KIM reports.

Odalovic made this proposal to the families on both sides, following the round table organized by Association of Missing and Kidnapped Persons in Kosovo, adding he believes from that position it is possible to exercise “positive pressure”.

“This process has stalled unfortunately, because Pristina persistently doesn’t respond to our demands and does not act in line with agreed obligations we harmonized in the very same Brussels”, Odalovic said.

Brussels undertook that important responsibility and burden to include the topic of missing persons in the agenda, in addition to other topics, he added.

He also said that Albanian families believe Serbian authorities have information, same as Serbian families believe that information is in Pristina.

He said as far as Serbia is concerned, we have the absolute support of all state bodies to act as per any request which is justified and meaningful.

Verica Tomanovic, from Missing and Kidnapped Persons Association said they will continue insisting on depoliticization of the issue, as it is primarily a civilizational and humanitarian issue.

Selakovic in London, to meet Lajcak, Peach and Escobar (media, GoS website)

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selakovic takes part in a meeting of Western Balkans foreign ministers in London today, hosted by Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom Elizabeth Truss, Serbian media report citing the ministry’s statement.

The meeting will also be attended by Special Envoy to the UK Prime Minister for the Western Balkans Stuart Peach, US State Department’s Envoy for the Western Balkans and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Gabriel Escobar and EU Special Representative for Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and Other Western Balkans Regional Issues Miroslav Lajcak.

In addition to the meeting of Western Balkan ministers, Selakovic will have separate meetings with Elizabeth Truss, Stuart Peach and Minister for Europe and Americas at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Wendy Morton.

He will also meet with the UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to the Western Balkans Martin Vickers and Chief Executive of UK Export Finance Louis Taylor. Selakovic is also scheduled to have a meeting with Gabriel Escobar.

During the meeting with Peach, Selakovic said Serbia remains committed to peace and stability, as well as to resolving the problems through dialogue. Selakovic also invited Peach to visit Serbia, a post on the Ministry’s official Twitter account said. 

International

Richard Grenell Exclusive Interview: The Serbia-Kosovo Agreement Was Not Just For Christmas (The Pavlovic Today)

For the first time, former Special Presidential Envoy for Serbia and Kosovo Richard Grenell, reveals the inner-workings of the historic Serbia-Kosovo Economic Normalization Agreement. Grenell shares novel details about the Biden and Trump administration, which he believes are key to creating US policies with lasting impacts.

Richard Grenell’s insight into moving the Western Balkans forward and closer to the US is indispensable. Former Special Presidential Envoy for Serbia and Kosovo Peace Talks, Grenell played a key part in enabling the 2020 Serbia-Kosovo Economic Normalization Agreement in Washington, DC.

“By focusing on job creation and economic growth, the two countries were able to reach a major breakthrough,” Trump said at the official ceremony in the Oval Office at the time, in the presence of his cabinet members, Serbian President Vucic, and Kosovo’s PM Avdullah Hoti.

Very little historical relevance about this political process has been placed in the American history books, though. As we sit down for an interview, more than a year after the agreement was finalized, Grenell tells me that he is writing a book about the subject, among other things, and shares yet unknown details.

“I think everybody knows the history pretty well, but what, shockingly, many Americans don’t realize is that progress has been made over the past 20 years. We really are in a fundamentally different point, a different relationship between the US and Kosovo and the US and Serbia, the US and Albania, the US and Balkan countries in general. It’s important to not get stuck in the past, but to allow, I would say, not only reconciliation, but also a reevaluation of what’s happening.”

Read more at: https://cutt.ly/SYGnEI9