• Vucic says Serbs may leave Kosovo institutions unless deal is clinched (RFE)
• According to Vucic, Kurti proposedsix points in Brussels (media)
• Vela reacts to Vucic: Pressure and intimidation will fail (media)
• Svecla: Vucic lied about Kosovo Police (media)
• Svecla: We will ensure free movement for all citizens (RTK)
• Trajkovic: KFOR provides security for all communities in Kosovo (Klan)
• Palokaj: EU has turned into organiser of crisis management meetings (Koha)
• Minister of Health indicates difficult autumn with COVID-19 (EO)
• COVID-19: 224 new cases, two deaths (media)
• Two Russians, one Ukrainian arrested after suspected spying raid on Albanian arms factory (The Guardian)
• Osmani and Kurti condemn attack in Gramsh (media)
• Montenegro government toppled by no-confidence vote (BIRN)

Vucic says Serbs may leave Kosovo institutions unless deal is clinched (RFE)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on August 21 that minority Serbs working in Kosovo institutions will leave their jobs unless a deal is reached to end their "persecution."

Tension between Kosovo and Serbia resurfaced late last month when Pristina declared that Serbian identity documents and vehicle license plates would no longer be valid on Kosovo territory.

Serbs, who live mostly in northern Kosovo, reacted with fury, putting up roadblocks and firing their guns into the air and in the direction of Kosovo police officers. No one was injured.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti postponed the implementation of the measure for a month, to September 1, after apparent pressure from the West.

Talks sponsored by the European Union (EU) in Brussels earlier this week failed to overcome differences.

"Unless the persecution of Serbs is stopped, the politicians will leave all Kosovo institutions over the next month, and then judges and police officers will follow suit by the end of September," Vucic told a news conference called after he met with Serbs from the north of Kosovo, which borders Serbia.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3pC4RcQ

According to Vucic, Kurti proposed six points in Brussels (media)

After his meeting on Sunday with Serbian institutional leaders, representatives of Kosovo Serbs from the Serbian List, Serbian bodies operating in Kosovo, as well as the mayors of Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic addressed the Serbian public saying he has received the support of Kosovo Serb representatives for a compromised solution on the issue of Serbian license plates and documents.

Vucic also revealed the six points proposed by the Kosovar side regarding the final agreement:

1. Mutual recognition and entry or acceptance in all international organizations; 2. Solving the problem of the missing, ascertaining and solving the problem of raped and displaced persons, the destruction of private and public property, the return of artifacts and other works of art that Serbia took from Kosovo, and finally pay the damages of war; 3. Cooperation in the future; 4. Albanians in Bujanovac and Presevo should have the same rights as the Serbs in the north of Kosovo; 5. Review of previous agreements; 6. The final agreement.

Vela reacts to Vucic: Pressure and intimidation will fail (media)

Blerim Vela, Chief of Staff for Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, argued on Sunday that Serbian authorities, in recent weeks, have put pressure on the citizens of Kosovo at border crossing points. “In recent weeks, the institutions of Serbia (including its intelligence service) have systematically put pressure on the citizens of Kosovo at the border points with Kosovo. A growing number of Kosovo citizens, including Kosovo Serbs who work for Kosovo institutions, have been arrested and interviewed for several hours at the Kosovo-Serbia border points,” Vela wrote on Twitter. “This pressuring of Kosovo citizens and targeting of Kosovo Serbs that work in Kosovo institutions needs to stop! Vucic needs to know that this Milosevic style pressure and intimidation will fail.”

Svecla: Vucic lied about Kosovo Police (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Interior Affairs, Xhelal Svecla, reacted to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s remarks about the Kosovo Police during his press conference in Belgrade. Svecla wrote on Twitter: “Milosevic’s Minister of Propaganda, Vucic, at today’s conference lied about Kosovo Police. A commitment from the past that the Kosova Army (KSF) cannot go to north without concurrence of COMKFOR is deliberately distorted. Kosovo Police is authorized to secure rule of law & safety for all citizens all around the Republic of Kosovo.”

Svecla: We will ensure free movement for all citizens (RTK)

Kosovo’s Minister of Interior Affairs Xhelal Svecla made on Saturday regular visits to the northern municipalities of Kosovo. He informed on Facebook that from numerous meetings with members of the Kosovo Police and KFOR, he learned that the situation in these municipalities is calm and stable.

“From this visit, we saw closely that they are successfully fulfilling their duties in law enforcement, maintaining peace, and providing lasting stability as our common goal. Their daily commitment to providing security and establishing legality are both a relief and a guarantee for a better life for the residents of this area,” Svecla wrote.

Svecla also said that the institutions of Kosovo will continue to ensure free movement for all citizens without distinction, in accordance with the laws in force. “We will implement fair and legal decisions which are in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo,” he added.

Trajkovic: KFOR provides security for all communities in Kosovo (Klan)

Rada Trajkovic, a Kosovo Serb politician, took to Twitter to comment on Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s statement that Belgrade will intervene if NATO fails to protect Serbs in Kosovo. Trajkovic said: “Since the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, does not seem to know what the mandate of NATO_KFOR really is. KFOR’s main task is to provide security and FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT for all communities in Kosovo. Even the removal of the barricades is in the mandate of KFOR”.

Petar Petkovic, Serbia’s chief negotiator in the talks with Kosovo in Brussels, reacted to Trajkovic’s remarks saying that “Trajkovic has taken on the role of NATO spokesperson”. “This is no support, she has now moved from supporting Albin Kurti, to supporting NATO,” he argued.

Palokaj: EU has turned into organiser of crisis management meetings (Koha)

Brussels-based correspondent Augustin Palokaj writes in an opinion piece that “the European Union should not have allowed that 11 years after the start of dialogue, the main topics to be the design of vehicle plates, energy bills and issuing of entry documents for crossing the border between Kosovo and Serbia. If the dialogue had been successful, none of these problems would have existed. Because both at the start of the dialogue and now, there is the issue that solves all problems, and that is the answer to the question on whether or not Kosovo is a state. Serbia once again proved that it is using the dialogue to claim that Kosovo is not a state, and that Serbia must exist within the territory of Kosovo”.

Minister of Health indicates difficult autumn with COVID-19 (EO)

Kosovo’s Minister of Health, Rifat Latifi, said in an interview with Ekonomia Online, that Kosovo could face a difficult autumn with COVID-19. “It is very likely that autumn will be more difficult than summer. Different countries in Europe have taken serious restrictive measures. We too will take the necessary measures,” he said. “We have a good experience in managing COVID-19. I believe we will make it. Most of the people have been vaccinated, but I call on everyone to get vaccinated. If anyone had dilemmas for getting the vaccine, they should remove them, because we could see new waves. We need to get used to living with COVID-19 for several years. Our capacities are ready to manage the virus, but we need to strengthen them further.”

COVID-19: 224 new cases, two deaths (media)

224 new cases with COVID-19 and two deaths from the virus were confirmed in the last 24 hours in Kosovo. There are 3,191 active cases with COVID-19 in Kosovo.

Two Russians, one Ukrainian arrested after suspected spying raid on Albanian arms factory (The Guardian)

Two Russians and a Ukrainian have been arrested after an apparent bungled spying raid on a military base and arms factory in central Albania, the Albanian defence ministry said on Saturday.

One of the male suspects allegedly attacked the guards with a paralysing spray while trying to take photographs of the Gramsh factory, which is used for dismantling derelict weapons, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added that two of its soldiers were injured while trying to stop the raid, but the three foreign nationals were detained.

Albanian prime minister Edi Rama said the three individuals are “suspected of espionage”.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3Ad0WIy

Osmani and Kurti condemn attack in Gramsh (media)

President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, said over the weekend that she has spoken with the President of Albania, Bajram Begaj, about Saturday’s attack on soldiers in Gramsh. “We wish the injured a speedy recovery. The authors of this attack must be held accountable,” she tweeted, adding that Kosovo’s institutions are ready to provide any necessary support.

Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, too condemned the incident at the military plant in Gramsh, where two citizens with Russian passports and one Ukrainian attempted to enter Saturday night. He wished a speedy recovery to the two injured Albanian soldiers. “We hope that the ongoing investigations by the Albanian authorities will clarify the circumstances of the event as soon as possible,” a press release issued by the Kosovo government notes. It also notes that Kosovo’s Ministry of Defence is in contact with the Albanian Ministry of Defence.

Montenegro government toppled by no-confidence vote (BIRN)

Montenegro faces more political instability and an interim cabinet or snap elections after Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic’s government fell victim to the in-fighting that dogged it from the start.

Montenegro’s coalition government collapsed on Friday after parliament backed a vote of no-confidence called by the party of President Milo Djukanovic and smaller parties in the ruling coalition, worsening the country’s political instability.

The administration led by the leader of the green movement URA, Dritan Abazovic, became the government with the shortest period in power in Montenegrin political history – it only came to office in April.

The government was ousted by the votes of 50 MPs in the 81-seat parliament.

The vote signaled the end of the political alliance between Abazovic and the Democratic Party of Socialists, headed by veteran leader Milo Djukanovic, which lost power in August 2020 after three decades in office, but in April started supporting Abazovic’s administration.

Read more at: https://bit.ly/3PFju9W