UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, November 2, 2021

Gashi: Grenell told us we had seven days to bring down Kurti-led government (Kanal 10)
Zaev's resignation, blow for "Open Balkan" (Koha)
Bugajski warns: Moscow plans the next Balkan war (Telegrafi)
CDHRF: Decan Monastery expanding through Serbia's discriminatory laws (Klan)
The Russian diplomat, declared non-grata, spotted in Pristina (media)
Kosovo War Massacres Trial Stalled in Serbia for Two Years (BIRN)
Parties trade blame over crisis at Ferronikel (BIRN)
Bosnia is in danger of breaking up, warns EU’s top official in the state (The Guardian)
COVID-19: Five new cases, no deaths (media)

Gashi: Grenell told us we had seven days to bring down Kurti-led government (Kanal 10)

Arben Gashi, head of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) parliamentary group, said that the former U.S. envoy for Kosovo-Serbia negotiations Richard Grenell had given the party seven days to bring down the first government led by Albin Kurti in 2020. The LDK was in a coalition government with the Vetevendosje Movement at the time.

"We had specifically been told, in written, we had seven days to bring down the Government, and every day we would get countdown messages: six, five, four and still nothing, three, and then we barely managed to get three more days from Grenell."

Gashi said that the move could have been avoided but that it would have carried grave consequences for Kosovo. "I cannot draw a parallel as to what would happen but the signals were extremely dangerous. We decided based on the information and signals we had, fully aware of the consequences we could face," he told Kanal 10.

Zaev's resignation, blow for "Open Balkan" (Koha)

Koha reports that the "Open Balkan" joint initiative of Albania, Serbia, and North Macedonia has received a blow following the resignation of North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

However, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic said that there continues to be strong support for the initiative, which Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina have so far refused to join.

"Strong support for 'Open Balkan'. Should we go ahead with or postpone the meeting in Belgrade, considering events in Skopje?", Vucic asked on his Instagram profile. Rama has not commented on the prospects of the next meeting.

Bugajski warns: Moscow plans the next Balkan war (Telegrafi)

Janusz Bugajski, U.S. Balkans expert, warned that Kosovo could be part of a what he terms as a wider offensive by Belgrade with Russian guidance to expand Belgrade’s regional position.

"As the White House is preoccupied with China’s growing military power and its threats against U.S. allies in the Far East, the Kremlin can subvert other regions. Benefiting from White House distractions it can help ignite new conflicts, and the Western Balkans remain a primary target of opportunity. The recent dispute at the Kosova-Serbia border over the recognition of license plates looks like a test run for more serious confrontations. Russian officials are encouraging the government of President Aleksandar Vučić to transform Serbia into the dominant power in the Western Balkans and thereby increase Russia’s leverage with Washington and Brussels," Bugajski wrote in an editorial for a Bosnia-based news portal.

He adds: "The propaganda ground is also being prepared for conflict. Belgrade and Moscow accuse the Kosova government of threatening the rights and existence of the Serbian minority. A similar narrative can be employed against the Bosnian government to justify war. The Kremlin has consistently used such claims about Russian populations in its aggressive revisionist enterprises in Ukraine, Georgia, and the Baltic states. Russia is now instructing its “younger brother” Serbia on the methodology of regional dominance and territorial partition.”

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

CDHRF: Decan Monastery expanding through Serbia's discriminatory laws (Klan)

The Kosovo-based Council for Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF) has reacted to the statement of European Parliament rapporteur Viola von Cramon who called on the Government of Kosovo to implement the Constitutional Court decision on the Decani Monastery.

CDHRF said that the EP rapporteur even went so far as to 'falsify' the truth about the role of the Monastery and Abbott Sava Janjic. "Father Sava Janjic has neither a peaceful past nor a present one because he refers to the implementation of decisions of Kosovo courts only when in his interest, namely he wishes to legalise the usurpation of 26 hectares of land owned by the public enterprises 'Apiko' and 'Iliria' which in 1997 were transferred to this Monastery through Serbia's discriminating laws while UNMIK, after the war, had legalised this discriminatory law of Serbia," the Council said.

CDHRF also criticised the German Ambassador Jorn Rohde who joined von Cramon's calls for implementation of the court decision saying such calls represent pressure on the Kosovo judiciary. "Realistically, almost all regular decisions of the courts of Kosovo about the property of the Decani Monastery were taken following political pressure and were political decisions."

The Russian diplomat, declared non-grata, spotted in Pristina (media)

Several online media report that one of the two Russian diplomats that were recently declared persona non-grata by Kosovo authorities has been spotted in downtown Pristina.

Denis Vengerskii and Alexey Kryvosheev, employees of the Russian Liaison Office in Pristina, were declared non grata on the orders of Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani citing threats to national security. Soon after, the media reported that the two officials were seen leaving Kosovo.

Kosovo War Massacres Trial Stalled in Serbia for Two Years (BIRN)

A hearing in the trial of 11 former Yugoslav Army soldiers for war crimes in four Kosovo villages in May 1999 was postponed at Belgrade Higher Court on Monday, meaning that two full years have passed without any hearing in the case being held.

The hearing was postponed because the court did not manage to establish a video conference call with a prison in Germany where Zoran Raskovic, a witness in the case, is serving a sentence.

Another witness who was slated to appear, Zoran Obradovic, who is also living in Germany, could not come to Belgrade due to the COVID-19 situation.

Judge Vladimir Duruz said that the video call could not be established because November 1 is a holiday in Germany.

“It was definite that we would be questioning Raskovic, until Friday afternoon when they [the prison] informed us that they have to take him from that prison where he was being held to another institution [for the video call], but they remembered that it is a holiday,” Duruz said.

The 11 former members of the 177th Yugoslav Army Unit are on trial for committing war crimes in the western Kosovo villages of Zahac/Zahaq, Cuska/Qushk, Pavlan and Ljubenic in May 1999. The indictment alleges that they killed at least 118 ethnic Albanians.