• NATO Secretary General statement on Russia’s attack on Ukraine (media)
• EU condemns Russia’s attack on Ukraine (media)
• UN Secretary-General’s remarks following Security Council meeting on Ukraine
• Statement by U.S. President Biden on Russia’s attack on Ukraine (media)
• Osmani: Kosovo stands with Ukraine and its people (media)
• U.S. Ambassador Hovenier meets Bishop Teodosije (media)
• Struggling Kosovo Telecom hit by €13 million arbitration ruling (BIRN)
• Kosovo faith leaders unite against same-sex marriages (BIRN)
• The end of the Russian defence of Kosovo (media)
• Serbia feels the heat as Ukraine conflict burns (BIRN)
• 4000 Albanians struck from voter lists with Serbian elections looming (Exit News)
• COVID-19: 257 new cases, three deaths (media)

 

 

NATO Secretary General statement on Russia’s attack on Ukraine (media)

Most Kosovo media cover this morning a statement by the NATO Secretary General about the situation in Ukraine.

“I strongly condemn Russia’s reckless and unprovoked attack on Ukraine, which puts at risk countless civilian lives. Once again, despite our repeated warnings and tireless efforts to engage in diplomacy, Russia has chosen the path of aggression against a sovereign and independent country.”

“This is a grave breach of international law, and a serious threat to Euro-Atlantic security. I call on Russia to cease its military action immediately and respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. NATO Allies will meet to address the consequences of Russia’s aggressive actions. We stand with the people of Ukraine at this terrible time. NATO will do all it takes to protect and defend all Allies.”

EU condemns Russia’s attack on Ukraine (media)

All Kosovo media report that the European Union has condemned today the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. “We strongly condemn Russia's unjustified attack on Ukraine,” President of the European Council Charles Michel, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a joint statement. “In these dark hours, our thoughts are with Ukraine and the innocent women, men and children as they face this unprovoked attack and fear for their lives. We will hold the Kremlin accountable.”

UN Secretary-General’s remarks following Security Council meeting on Ukraine

SG: This is the saddest moment in my tenure as Secretary-General of the United Nations. I started this meeting of the Security Council addressing President Putin and telling him from the bottom of my heart: Stop your troops from an offensive against Ukraine, give peace a chance because too many people have died.

During the meeting President Putin announced a ‘special military operation’ in the Donbas and required the Ukrainian troops to lay down their arms. So, in the present circumstances I must change my appeal.

I must say, President Putin: In the name of humanity bring your troops back to Russia. In the name of humanity do not allow to start in Europe what could be the worst war since the beginning of the century, with consequences not only devastating for Ukraine, not only tragic for the Russian Federation, but with an impact we cannot even foresee in relation to the consequences for the global economy in a moment when we are emerging from the COVID [pandemic] and so many developing countries absolutely need to have space for the recovery which would be very, very difficult, with the high prices of oil, with the end of exports of wheat from Ukraine, and with the rising interest rates caused by instability in international markets.

This conflict must stop - now. Thank you very much.

Q:  Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary-General. You have just talked about consequences. I wonder if you could spell out more what you think the consequences will be for Russia, and for Ukraine and its people. 

SG: Well, it is clear that military action will be happening in the territory of Ukraine, and obviously if they lead to a generalized war, it is difficult to forecast how dramatic it will be in the number of people who will die, in the number of people who will be displaced, in the number of people who will lose hope in relation to the future. It is also clear that the consequences for the Russian Federation will be very meaningful. It is not for me to comment on sanctions that will be implemented but it is clear there will be also consequences.

What is clear for me is that this war doesn’t make any sense. It violates the principles of the Charter. And it will cause, if it doesn’t stop, a level of suffering Europe has not known since, at least, the Balkan crisis.

Q: Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General. Is there anything the UN can do to get Russia back to the bargaining table at this point?  

SG: We can of course, in my case, appeal. The Security Council is the body that has powers given by the Charter to address this situation.

Statement by U.S. President Biden on Russia’s attack on Ukraine (media)

All media cover the statement by the United States President Joe Biden on Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

“The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable.”

“I will be monitoring the situation from the White House this evening and will continue to get regular updates from my national security team. Tomorrow, I will meet with my G7 counterparts in the morning and then speak to the American people to announce the further consequences the United States and our Allies and partners will impose on Russia for this needless act of aggression against Ukraine and global peace and security. We will also coordinate with our NATO Allies to ensure a strong, united response that deters any aggression against the Alliance. Tonight, Jill and I are praying for the brave and proud people of Ukraine.”

Osmani: Kosovo stands with Ukraine and its people (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani wrote on a Twitter post this morning that Kosovo stands with Ukraine and its people “while they’re facing the consequences of unprovoked war as a result of Russia’s acts of aggression”. “We’ll cooperate with our allies to stop any destabilization in our region. Russia’s hegemony will not succeed. Freedom and democracy will prevail,” Osmani said.

U.S. Ambassador Hovenier meets Bishop Teodosije (media)

Most media covered the meeting between U.S. Ambassador Jeff Hovenier with Bishop Teodosije on Wednesday. “Delighted to meet with Bishop Teodosije, visit the historic Gracanica Monastery, and reaffirm U.S. support for a sovereign, independent, and multi-ethnic Kosovo that respects & ensures religious freedom for all citizens,” Hovenier tweeted after the meeting.

Struggling Kosovo Telecom hit by €13 million arbitration ruling (BIRN)

A London-based arbitration court has ordered the company to pay around 13 million euros to a local company for terminating its contract in 2019, fueling a debate about the harmful contracts past managements signed.

A multi-million-euro bill received by Kosovo Telecom on Tuesday added salt to the wounds of the struggling public company, after it lost another arbitration case.

The London-based International Chamber of Commerce ruled that Kosovo Telecom has to pay 13 million euros to privately-owned claimant, Dardafon, for a contract terminated in July 2019.

The ruling follows another hostile arbitration verdict from 2016 which ordered Telecom to pay around 30 million to the same company, majority-owned by Kosovo-born businessman Blerim Devolli.

Telecom criticised the latest verdict as “irregular” and said that it will “follow legal steps” to challenge it. It also accused former managements of signing harmful contracts that have brought the company into a dire financial situation.

“We will continue to ask that ‘bills’ arising from political and interest groups from past managements … be investigated by law enforcement agencies about their origin, in order to conclude a period when organised crime and politics were destroying public property, and especially public companies,” Telecom said.

But this will not be end of the matter, however. Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu confirmed on Wednesday that another arbitration challenge ios coming from the company. “The company has sued both Telecom and Republic of Kosovo. The process is ongoing,” Haxhiu told the media.

“I have to express my deep concern that our public enterprises have been degraded by harmful contracts which cost the state budget millions,” she added.

The Minister said law enforcement and justice institutions should have been more vigilant in investigating these cases.

“Police, prosecution and courts should have worked more on this because even though there have been many harmful contracts, no one has been held responsible for these contracts, which have created great consequences for enterprises and country,” Haxhiu said.

Telecom workers’ union head Lamih Balaj has also called for an investigation into all those involved in this case. “This is a scandalous decision and it should warn all institutions not to execute this harmful verdict,” Balaj said.

Kosovo faith leaders unite against same-sex marriages (BIRN)

Muslim, Jewish, Evangelical and Catholic leaders have jointly expressed opposition to plans to recognise the right to same-sex marriage in a new civil code, insisting on the need to uphold 'family values'.

Religious leaders in mainly Muslim Kosovo on Wednesday signed a joint declaration against a new draft civil code that would allow same-sex marriages, and will be discussed in parliament on Thursday.

The religious leaders condemned an article which paves the way for a special law allowing same-sex civil unions.

The joint declaration was signed by Grand Mufti Naim Ternava, Catholic Bishop Dode Gjergji, Evangelical Church leader Femi Cakolli and Jewish Community head Votim Demiri. The Serbian Orthodox Church, the second largest faith group in the country, did not take part.

“The religious communities remain united when it comes to the protection and daily promotion of family values, pro-life values, the traditional values of marriage, the right of the fetus from conception to birth, and the natural right of gender as a predetermination for each citizen,” the joint declaration reads.

Kosovo law currently does not allow same sex marriages. The constitution, on the other hand, recognizes that “on the basis of free consent, everyone enjoys the right to marry and the right to create a family in accordance with the law”.

The new draft civil code writes that “registered civil unions between people of same sex are allowed”.

Most MPs seem to support the change. On Monday, after the meeting of the Kosovo parliament’s leadership, the head of the ruling Vetevendosje party’s parliamentary group, Mimoza Kusari Lila, told the media “I believe that in the civil code this issue [on same sex marriage] will be regulated by law.”

Similarly, the leader of the parliamentary group of the opposition Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, Besnik Tahiri, said that, “as a parliamentary group, we support them [same sex marriages]”.

Over 90 per cent of the population of Kosovo are Muslim, with the remaining 10 per cent or so divided between Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical Christians and a tiny Jewish community.

The end of the Russian defence of Kosovo (media)

Opinion piece by Orhan Dragaš from the International Security Institute.

After the Kremlin’s recognition of Donbas, it is inconceivable that the Russian ambassador to the UN could say anything against Kosovo’s independence without causing laughter in the chamber, writes Orhan Dragaš.

In a series of harsh criticisms of Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the two breakaway Ukrainian regions, one from Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu was among the first to arrive.

This was logical because Moldova could easily be the first in line to see Russia recognise its “Donbas” in Transnistria, an area that has been frozen for even longer, resulting in Moscow immediately sending its troops to “protect the peace” there.

After recognising the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk, what could hold the Russian president from recognising all other frozen conflict regions on the outskirts of Russia?

In anticipation of the world’s response, some important answers have already been provided, and they are very important for the events in the Western Balkans.

After Putin’s recent decision, Russia’s position on the international scene as an advocate of firm compliance with international law becomes unsustainable.

Russia and its leader concluded they could give up that position to achieve their much more important goal, which is total control over the territory once occupied by the Soviet Union.

With its deeds, Russia formally left the framework of international law, violating all fundamental laws, which it has been frantically defending for years and decades.

From the UN Charter, through the Helsinki Final Act, to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum guaranteeing Ukraine’s integrity, to the Minsk Protocol, legalising the autonomy of the two rebel Ukrainian regions- everything was scrapped.

Still, Donetsk and Lugansk will not become states just by virtue of being recognised by the Kremlin.

Except for Russia, no one else in the world, except Syria, Nicaragua and the likes, will recognise them. Just as no one but Russia and a few others recognised Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Just as importantly, by entering Donbas, Russia ceases to be an advocate against Kosovo’s independence on the international stage.

Read full opinion piece here: https://bit.ly/3hcQveW

Serbia feels the heat as Ukraine conflict burns (BIRN)

Opinion piece by Vuk Vuksanovic.

Serbia navigated the last Ukraine conflict with some success – but the latest flare-up threatens to upset its East-West balancing act.

Everyone is looking in the direction of Ukraine, and Serbia is no exception. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic expressed concern about the decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognise the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, two provinces in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian rebels.

Instructing the Serbian military to be on high alert, Vucic said: “There are now many challenges of a political, security and economic nature. Political pressures will be greater than ever. Only in the last three days what I have experienced confirms my words. I have gone through various kinds of pressures, but what I experienced in the previous three days and what follows will simply not be easy at all. … I think that the world order is changing in this way. ... Peace is no longer something that is implicit.“

That same day, Vucic convened a National Security Council meeting to discuss the security implications of Ukraine’s worsening conflict to Serbia. A week before, Serbia urged remaining citizens to leave Ukraine. Its fear that any potential conflict in Ukraine will overspill its border is evident.

The first Ukraine crisis of 2014 was bad news for Belgrade . Serbia found itself in a hotspot, with the West and Russia at loggerheads over Ukraine.

Read full opinion piece here: https://bit.ly/33KV6lo

4000 Albanians struck from voter lists with Serbian elections looming (Exit News)

With Serbia heading to parliamentary and presidential elections in April, the campaign is stepping up. But little attention is being paid to the 3,000 ethnic Albanian minority living in the southern Presevo Valley who have been illegally struck off the voting list.

For the last seven years, academic and researcher Flora Ferhati-Sachsenmeir has investigated and researched the so-called passivisation of ethnic Albanian who are Serbian citizens in the region.

Speaking to Exit, Ferhati, who was born and raised in the area, said that the Serbian government has undertaken a process to verify whether people are living at their addresses. If they are not, they are removed from voter lists and the civil registry.

The problem is that physical checks on addresses are not being carried out, and predominantly ethnic Albanians are being rendered effectively stateless, deprived of ID documents and unable to vote, buy property, get healthcare, or send their children to school.

Furthermore, those removed from the list are not being notified in writing, depriving them of the right to appeal and other forms of legal recourse.

“In 2015, I was researching in the area, and some of the families, activists and politicians I came across kept saying ‘they are deleting us, they are deleting us’. This got into my mind, and it always came in conjunction with the Ministry of the Interior in Serbia.”

Ferhati explained that residents said their addresses were being deleted, and they were being refused IDs and passports.

“So I started investigating. After all, how could it be legal that citizens of our country [Serbia] were being treated like this?” she said.

She continued that citizens reported being told, “No, you don’t live here, you live in Kosovo, we cannot recognise you”, and that this answer was being given predominantly to Albanians.

“It is important to understand that they are abusing the law. Every country in the world has a residency law, but there is no country in Europe that abuses the law of residence to target a specific group to change the ethnic composition.”

According to Ferhati-Sachsenmeir’s research and the collected testimonies of residents, the authorities, under cover of the residence law, claimed to be sending people to verify residences. These individuals would say that the residents could not be found at their address, and a notification would be sent to the Electoral Commission. Entire families are then wiped off the electoral lists, and with no written decisions issued, there is no route for appeal.

“Let me give you an example. In the municipality of Megjvia, out of 500 passivised individuals, only 20- were given a written decision. In Serbian Cyrillic, when the law allows it to be in Albanian.”

“They know what they are doing is not constitutional so by not issuing a written document, they are hiding the traces,” Ferhati adds.

Read full article here: https://bit.ly/3pdTV5o

COVID-19: 257 new cases, three deaths (media)

257 new cases with COVID-19 and three deaths from the virus were recorded in the last 24 hours in Kosovo, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. 593 persons recovered from the virus during this time. There are 3,057 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.