UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, July 13, 2022

Kosovo refutes Russian propaganda about “mercenaries” in Ukraine (Koha)
Hoxhaj: Agreement with Serbia is crucial not to have crisis again (media)
Kosovo, Montenegrin Foreign Ministries hold political consultations (media)
Krasniqi: Bigger mobilisation over a greater infection wave (EO)
Kosovo minister conveys Serbia’s messages in Gjilan (Koha)
Kosovo’s annual inflation accelerates to 14.1 percent in June (SeeNews)
Status conference in the case of Thaci and others today (media)
Kosovo Political Prisoners Recall Brutal Internment on ‘Barren Island’ (BIRN)
US rejects ‘Serbian world’ advocated by Serbian minister (AP)
Albania Registers Sharp Increase in Visitors from Serbia (BIRN)

Kosovo refutes Russian propaganda about “mercenaries” in Ukraine (Koha)

The Russian Ministry of Defense has listed Kosovo as the ninth in Europe per the number of “mercenaries” that allegedly joined the Ukrainian army and claimed that it has killed 69 of them. The Kosovo government meanwhile refuted the information saying that there are no Kosovo citizens fighting in Ukraine. “Even earlier we have refuted these unfounded claims which we believe are part of the Russian propaganda against our democratic republic and efforts to justify an unjustifiable act of aggression against the people of Ukraine,” a government spokesman told the news website. “Kosovo was among the first countries from the Western Balkans that joined the western democracies and peace-loving nation in slamming Russia’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine”.

Hoxhaj: Agreement with Serbia is crucial not to have crisis again (media)

Vice President of the Kosovo Assembly, Enver Hoxhaj, said in an interview with Top Story that it is crucial for Kosovo to reach an agreement with Serbia, “so that we can close this topic and have no more crisis or wars”.

Hoxhaj argued that with its approach toward the dialogue, the Kurti-led government is strengthening Serbia and is turning it into an important international factor. “The way that the Kosovo government is approaching the dialogue and its regional policy and approach toward our Western partners, is turning Serbia into an international factor. An impression is being created that they are more constructive than we are. This is why Kurti needs to close the technical issues and say that the main topic of the dialogue is mutual recognition. Other issues must then be included in a comprehensive agreement, and we should not waste more time,” he said.

Hoxhaj also argued that Kosovo should become part of the Open Balkan initiative in order to increase cooperation with countries in the region.

Kosovo, Montenegrin Foreign Ministries hold political consultations (media)

The Foreign Ministries of Kosovo and Montenegro met in Podgorica on Tuesday and held political consultations. The meeting focused on bilateral agreements that are being finalised, the security situation in the region, cooperation in many areas, the furthering of economic ties and joint infrastructural investments. The head of the Kosovo delegation briefed his Montenegrin counterparts about Kosovo’s plans to join international organisations, highlighting the current membership bid at the Council of Europe, and thanked Montenegro for their unconditional support. A press release notes that the two delegations also discussed security issues and the measures taken by both sides, especially after the situation after Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.

Krasniqi: Bigger mobilisation over a greater infection wave (EO)

Director of the Clinical University Hospital Services of Kosovo, Valbon Krasniqi, has summoned the heads of general hospitals to a meeting today after the spike in new cases with COVID-19. Krasniqi said there should be bigger mobilisation over a potential big wave of the virus. “I met with the community yesterday. Therefore, I saw it reasonable to invite the heads of hospitals to seek mobilization over a potential big wave,” he said.

Kosovo minister conveys Serbia’s messages in Gjilan (Koha)

The daily reports on its front page that Kosovo’s Minister for Returns and Communities, Goran Rakic, conveyed the messages of the Serbian government during the inauguration of a square in a Serb-inhabited village in the municipality of Gjilan. The Serbian government funded the construction of the square named Serbia. Petar Petkovic, head of the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo, who was scheduled to attend the inauguration was not allowed entrance into Kosovo. Rakic instead conveyed Petkovic’s messages and said that he would be in Kosovo on Wednesday. Rakic also promised the Serb residents other investments without specifying whether the Kosovo government or the government in Belgrade would make the investments.

Kosovo’s annual inflation accelerates to 14.1 percent in June (SeeNews)

Kosovo’s harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) added 14.1 percent year-on-year in June, after increasing by 12.5 percent in May, the national statistical office said on Tuesday. On a monthly comparison basis, the HICP rose 1.4 percent in June, after edging up 0.9 percent the previous month, the Kosovo Agency of Statistics said in a monthly inflation report. See HICP at: https://bit.ly/3P9qdcP

Status conference in the case of Thaci and others today (media)

The next status conference in the case of leaders of the former Kosovo Liberation Army will be held today. Read more at: https://bit.ly/3nZSCWU

Kosovo Political Prisoners Recall Brutal Internment on ‘Barren Island’ (BIRN)

A new book tells the rarely-heard stories of Kosovo Albanians who were detained in grim conditions on the Croatian island of Goli Otok (Barren Island), a prison camp for political dissidents in the former Yugoslavia.

“When I arrived there, it was a very cold day and I was taken immediately to solitary confinement in a dark and frozen cell,” said Fadil Bajraktari, recalling the day in 1984 when he was sent to a detention camp on an isolated island off the coast of Croatia.

Goli Otok (Barren Island) is, as its name suggests, a desolate, uninhabited island in the Adriatic Sea that was used to detain political prisoners between 1949 and 1988, when Croatia was part of Yugoslavia.

“After one month in isolation, I was forced to work as a carpenter. The working conditions were very hard. There was a deep snow, ice and freezing temperatures,” said Bajraktari.

“Most of us had no blankets. Some had a blanket of [size] one metre by one metre. The windows had no glass and my cell filled up with snow. The food was disgusting.”

Bajraktari has since died, and his words come from a new book called ‘Distorted Shadows’, which is published in English and Albanian and is being launched in Pristina on Wednesday.

The book, published by a Pristina-based NGO called Integra, whose work focuses on peace, reconciliation and human rights contain interviews with Bajraktari and 11 other former political prisoners who spent years in the notorious Goli Otok detention camp, where around 3,500 people were held.