UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, November 27, 2025

Albanian Language Media:

Osmani: We are proud of KSF, guarantee for our sovereignty (media)
Kurti mentions investments in KSF: Equipped with modern technology (media)
Kosovo government finds solution for RTK salaries (media)
IFJ: Kosovo govt must immediately release funds owed to RTK (media)
Hoxhaj: PDK has least responsibility for institutional blockade this year (KTV)
CEC certifies results for runoff elections in 18 municipalities (media)
Special prosecution charges a person for war crimes in Istog in 1999 (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Dacic: Interior Ministry to bid for regional Interpol bureau in Belgrade (N1, Beta)
Viktor Orban suddenly arrives in Subotica (Danas)
Constitutive session of the Gracanica MA on December 5 (KiM radio)
Simic: Continuation of electoral engineering, in the municipality of Gracanica 740 fewer voters (Kosovo Online)
War crimes indictment filed against T.P. (KiM radio)
US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires: We expect Serbia to make wise decisions, choose reliable partners (FoNet, Danas, N1, NIN)

International:

Budget deadlock paralyses public transport in Prishtina (Prishtina Insight)

Humanitarian:

Bosnian war child’s memoir launched in Serbian capital (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media

Osmani: We are proud of KSF, guarantee for our sovereignty (media)

Kosovo President, Vjosa Osmani, has described Kosovo Security Force Day as a day of pride, calling this institution the successor of the KLA. “Our army is strengthening every day and becoming more operational, interoperable, and professional… We are extremely proud of their work. Together with the Kosovo Police and other security institutions, they are the strongest guarantee of our sovereignty, territorial integrity, state defense, and the protection of every one of our citizens,” Osmani said.

Kurti mentions investments in KSF: Equipped with modern technology (media)

Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, mentioned the investment of over 430 million euros in equipment and armaments for the KSF over the past four years. He said that this institution had previously been less equipped than the Kosovo Police. “Whereas now it is equipped with modern technology, and this continues to increase; we now have more than double the boots on the ground and also more eyes in the sky, because we have equipped the KSF with ‘SkyTech’ and ‘TB2 Bayraktar’ drones from Turkey, ‘Puma’ from the U.S., and soon we will also have a munitions factory and the production of drones manufactured in Kosovo,” he said.

“With the KSF, this army that is so well equipped, the younger generations will be safe to live in peace and flourish. On one side we have the sacrifice of the nation’s martyrs, above all that of Adem Jashari and his family, the veterans and the disabled of the KLA, and on the other side we have all these children who have come to see their army,” he said.

Kosovo government finds solution for RTK salaries (media)

Kosovo caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti said today that the funds for salaries of workers of the Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) will be allocated from the government’s savings. “In August we made a provisional solution by giving an overdraft for the RTK, with the hope that after the Assembly was constituted and committees were formed, a proper solution would be found with the responsibility of all parties. We did not have enough votes because the other parties refused the option for salaries for RTK. As [Finance Minister Hekuran] Murati said, we looked into several options to resolve this situation. In this government meeting, the necessary funds are being allocated from the savings category. This solution is a forced improvisation after our continuous efforts to adopt the budget,” Kurti said.

IFJ: Kosovo govt must immediately release funds owed to RTK (media)

The International Federation of Journalists said that 700 workers of the Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) have not received their salaries for two months now and that this is unacceptable. IF General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said that Kosovo’s acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the government must urgently act to ensure RTK receives its budget. “We stand firmly with our RTK colleagues, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo and their just strike,” he said. The IFJ also said that the Kosovo government must immediately release the funds owed to Kosovo's public broadcaster so that salaries can be paid and RTK can continue to operate.

Hoxhaj: PDK has least responsibility for institutional blockade this year (KTV)

Former PDK MP Enver Hoxhaj said in an interview with KTV that this party has the least responsibility for the institutional blockade in Kosovo after the February 9 parliamentary elections. “The Vetevendosje Movement and no other party had enough votes to form a government … The PDK had the least responsibility for the political situation in the country this year, because we didn’t have a partnership with the first party [VV] or the third party [LDK],” he argued.

Hoxhaj said that the PDK, LDK and AAK have a duty to make every political change in order to get the support of the people so that 2025 is not repeated. “They have a duty to unite all energies with the aim of preventing another situation like the one we had in 2024, when the very existence of statehood, democracy and constitutionality was put in question. The PDK needs to be as open as possible, talk with every political party, and the LDK and AAK must do the same,” he said.

CEC certifies results for runoff elections in 18 municipalities (media)

Kosovo’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has certified the results for runoff elections in 18 municipalities which were held on November 9. In the first round of elections held on October 12, voters elected mayors in 20 other municipalities. After the two rounds, the Vetevendosje Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo have each won seven municipalities, the Democratic Party of Kosovo has won six municipalities, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo in five municipalities and the Serbian List has won ten Serb-majority municipalities.

Special prosecution charges a person for war crimes in Istog in 1999 (media)

Several news websites report that the Special Prosecution of Kosovo has charged a person – initials T.P. – of committing war crimes against Albanian civilians in April 1999 in the municipality of Istog. The indictment notes that T.P. took part in the killing of five members of an Albanian family. The victims were forced to leave their home and sent to another house where they were executed. The house and the bodies of the victims were then set on fire.

Serbian Language Media

Dacic: Interior Ministry to bid for regional Interpol bureau in Belgrade (N1, Beta)

Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic announced that his Ministry intends to apply to open an Interpol Regional Bureau for Southeast Europe in Belgrade, said a press release issued by the Ministry.

“We are interested in having the Regional Bureau for Southeast Europe headquartered in Belgrade, and we will officially submit an application,” said Dacic, who led the Serbian delegation at the 93rd Interpol General Assembly in Marrakesh.

He noted that he had discussed the initiative with outgoing Interpol President Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi and Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza.

Dacic said he expects Urquiza to visit Belgrade in the coming months, adding that the visit would be an opportunity for further discussions regarding the establishment of the bureau in the Serbian capital.

The press release also noted Dacic’s emphasis on a key development for the Interior Ministry at this year’s Interpol General Assembly: the fact that “so-called Kosovo did not submit a membership application.”

Viktor Orban suddenly arrives in Subotica (Danas)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban today wrote on the X that he was heading to Subotica to pay his respects to Istvan Pastor, the former leader of the Union of Vojvodina Hungarians, together with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, and the Vojvodina Hungarians, reported Danas.

"This is an important moment for our strategic alliance. It also means that in the chaos of European war politics, Hungary and Serbia can count on each other. Our Serbian friends are now in trouble because of the sanctions policy," Orban wrote on the X.

He added that what they managed to avoid in Hungary can happen in Serbia: the largest oil refinery may have to be closed, supply difficulties may occur, and even the threat of a fuel shortage.

"I will assure President Vucic that Hungary will do everything possible to support the supply of fuel to Serbia," concluded Orban.

Danas recalled that Istvan Pastor passed away two years ago.

Yesterday, Peter Szijarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, visited Serbia, who told RTS that Hungary will increase its deliveries of derivatives to Serbia as early as December.

Constitutive session of the Gracanica MA on December 5 (KiM radio)

The municipality of Gracanica announced that the new convocation of the local self-government and the new president of the municipality will take over their mandates on December 5, reported KiM radio.

The constituent session of the Gracanica MA will be held on December 5 at 11 a.m. in the assembly hall, announced the Municipality of Gracanica.

On the agenda will be the signing of members of the Municipal Assembly and other participants; welcome speech of the oldest member of the Municipal Assembly; presiding over the session by the oldest member of the Municipal Assembly; welcoming the newly elected president of the municipality of Gracanica and the election of the chairman of the municipal assembly.

The majority in the future MA of Gracanica will be held by the councilors of Serbian List, then the councilors of the Albanian Alliance and the Party for Freedom, Justice and Survival.

Serbian List also won the seat of the mayor in the local elections held on October 12, that is Novak Zivic.

Simic: Continuation of electoral engineering, in the municipality of Gracanica 740 fewer voters (Kosovo Online)

The member of the Presidency of the Serbian List, Igor Simic, after the CEC announced the number of voters in the municipalities for the upcoming extraordinary parliamentary elections, pointed out that there are irregularities which, he says, are clear political engineering. Simic said that in the municipality of Gracanica, according to the data of the CEC, the number of voters has decreased by 740, reported Kosovo Online.

Simic said that ''the electoral engineering of the regime of the Kosovo Prime Minister in the technical mandate of Albin Kurti is continuing''.

"Now after the completed local elections and the announced extraordinary parliamentary elections, in just two months, the municipality of Gracanica has lost 740 voters according to the data of the Central Election Commission. It is the first in terms of this number, far behind all other municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija," wrote Simic in a post on Facebook.

He added that compared to the parliamentary elections held in February, the municipality of Gracanica received 2,444 voters in the local elections just six months later.

"Ninety percent of them were Albanian voters who were supposed to support a single Albanian list in the local elections. Biologically, legally and logically, an inexplicably large number of people gained the right to vote, almost 11 percent of the total number of voters in that municipality in just six months," he wrote.

He added that the Serbian List publicly pointed out all this, addressed international representatives, but that everything remained the same, and that even the observers of the election process were not interested in this phenomenon.

In the announcement, Simic also shared the total number of voters in the territory of the municipality of Gracanica and asked if anyone would react.

"February - 22,881. September - 25,325, November - 24,585. Will anyone react? Is this democracy? What is the regime in Pristina doing," Simic asked.

War crimes indictment filed against T.P. (KiM radio)

The Kosovo Special Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment today against T.P. for the crime "War crime against the civilian population", reported KiM radio.

KiM radio reported, citing the indictment, that the defendant T.P. during the war in Kosovo, in the village of Crnce and surrounding villages in the municipality of Istok, together with other members of the Serbian forces, committed murder, robbery and destruction of property of Albanian civilians.

T.P. was also accused of participating in the murder of five members of a family in April 1999.

"The victims K.R., Z.R., R.R., I.R. and Sh.R. were, at gunpoint, forced to leave their homes and be accommodated in another house, where they were later killed. According to the indictment, the house was burned together with the victims' bodies."

The accused T.P, as stated, together with "other members of the Serbian forces", looted movable property and burned houses in the villages of this municipality.

US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires: We expect Serbia to make wise decisions, choose reliable partners (FoNet, Danas, N1, NIN)

Removing Russian ownership from Serbia’s Oil Industry (NIS) would bring significant benefits to Serbia by substantially strengthening the country’s energy security, boosting investment, and contributing to prosperity across the region, US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Alexander Titolo told an interview with the latest issue of the weekly magazine NIN, adding that Serbia currently stands at a crossroads.

Titolo stressed that the sanctions against NIS are not directed at Serbia but at Russia, while pointing out that the largest shareholder in NIS remains the Russian company Gazprom Neft.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has also publicly said that these measures are not aimed at Serbia. Titolo noted that doing business with Russia carries considerable risks and said that if the issue is approached in this way, Serbia will find itself in a much stronger economic position once a solution is found.

The United States is ready to be Serbia’s partner in developing its energy sector, technological solutions, and expanding defense cooperation, said Titolo, emphasizing that Serbia is at a crossroads, and that the US encourages it to make wise decisions and choose reliable partners as it strives to become a regional leader.

He added that a stronger and more prosperous Serbia would open new opportunities in bilateral relations.

Titolo said the Trump administration is seriously committed to elevating US-Serbia relations to a higher level. He recalled that this past summer, for the first time in 17 years, a foreign-minister-level meeting was held in Washington, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric discussed ways to deepen the partnership.

He explained that the strengthening of Serbia-US relations is based on Serbia’s clear commitment to regional security and stability, which is also the foundation for advancing economic cooperation and political dialogue. He described Serbia as an important player in the Western Balkans with great potential to drive positive change.

He added that this can be achieved by working to reduce tensions in the region and promoting policies that create open and free markets.

Titolo stressed that America’s priorities for Serbia and the region are peace and stability – the essential basis for developing mutually beneficial and fair economic ties. Peace and stability in the Western Balkans are the top US priority, and normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo is a key part of that, Titolo said.

International

Budget deadlock paralyses public transport in Prishtina (Prishtina Insight)

A political and budgetary deadlock has shut down all public transport in Prishtina, forcing thousands of residents to seek alternative travel as city officials and the central government trade accusations over frozen revenues and missed deadlines for budget approval.

For the third day in a row, public and private transport companies in Prishtina have protested in front of the municipality, citing financial difficulties due to lack of budget allocations.

Municipal funds have not been allocated because the 2025 budget has yet to be approved, resulting in a freeze of revenues and own-source funds.

On Thursday, the Municipality of Prishtina called an extraordinary session of the Municipal Assembly to authorise the transfer of funds from 2024 to 2025 and to approve the budget for 2026.

The Municipality of Prishtina failed to approve its 2025 budget on time, despite several extraordinary sessions of the Municipal Assembly that were suspended due to lack of quorum. Because of these delays, the Ministry of Finance drafted its own version of the budget for the municipality, as permitted by the Law on Public Financial Management.