Albanian Language Media: 

• Osmani: I hope complete cycle of forming institutions will end ASAP (media)
• PDK, LDK MPs say government is “buying votes” with €100 for students (media)
• Haradinaj slams Kurti, “he is shameless, a man of Serbia and Russia” (Kanal 10)
• Basha meets Finnish Ambassador, discusses political developments (media)
• Rexhepi: Voting in package is not a law; the separate vote was normal (KTV)
• Albanian mayoral candidate in Gracanica: “Good cooperation with mayor” (Koha)
• COMKFOR Ulutas hosts UK Military Representative to NATO and EU (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Vucic: Perhaps it is an insult when I say “my stomach turns upside down” over Pristina’s statement on territorial integrity (Kosovo Online, KoSSev)
• Selakovic writes to UNESCO's Azoulay over designations of Serbian heritage as Albanian (Tanjug, N1)
• Lawyer: Contradictory statements in Kostic and Milovic war crimes trial (Radio KIM, KoSSev)
• Apartment of the Bojic family from Leposavic allocated to an Albanian man (Kosovo Online)
• Elektrosever: Leposavic municipality did not submit necessary documentation to connect building without electricity (KoSSev)
• KFOR Commander met UK General Cave, discussed security situation in Kosovo and region (media, social media)
• Vucic: We will talk to Russians about NIS, there is nothing to be discussed with US anymore (Tanjug)

International Media:

• Albania judges warned police of threats before fatal court shooting (BIRN)

Albanian Language Media

Osmani: I hope the complete cycle of functioning institutions will end ASAP (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said on Tuesday that she hopes that the complete cycle of formation of new institutions will end as soon as possible. Most news websites note that on September 30, the Constitutional Court issued a notification that the constitutive session of the Kosovo Assembly is not concluded pending the election of a deputy assembly speaker from the Kosovo Serb community. “It is only a notification. The moment that the full decision is published we will address you again … We are continuously in contact with the parties and we will do so in the future too. I hope that the complete cycle of functioning institutions will be concluded as soon as possible,” Osmani said.

PDK, LDK MPs say government is “buying votes” with €100 for students (media)

Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) leader Memli Krasniqi said Kurti’s decision to allocate €100 for students is a sign of panic “from the major defeat awaiting him on Sunday”. “I call on the students to take those funds – which are the taxes of their families – but on Sunday they should use their votes to punish a Prime Minister that has endangered their future and the future of the state,” he said in a Facebook post.

PDK MP Blerta Deliu-Kodra wrote in a Facebook post “during the campaign, they thought about the students. I understand the students because many of them need €100. But what hurts is the reason why they are being given now, on the eve of elections. How humiliating!”

Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) MP Hykmete Bajrami criticized the caretaker government of Kosovo for allocating €100 for students. “€26 million, the cost of buying votes by the Vetevendosje Movement. The prosecution is running late with getting out of office these usurpers who buy votes with taxpayers’ money. This is a public corruption scheme. The citizens will punish the abusers on October 12,” she argued in a Facebook post.

Haradinaj slams Kurti, “he is shameless, a man of Serbia and Russia” (Kanal 10)

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj, in an interview with Kanal 10 on Tuesday, claimed that Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti is “shameless and a man of Serbia and Russia”. He added that it is “idiocy” for Kurti to say that he has disagreements with the United States because he wants law and order in the north of Kosovo. “The United States made the achievements. He is shameless. He is a man of Russia and Serbia when he talks like that. For him to tell students [during a visit to the US] that he wants law and order in the north and that that is why the US doesn’t want him. He should be ashamed because the US made it possible to have law and order,” he argued.

Basha meets Finnish Ambassador, discusses political developments (media)

Most news websites report that Kosovo Assembly Speaker Dimal Basha met on Tuesday with Finnish Ambassador to Kosovo, Eevamari Laaksonen, and discussed furthering relations between the two assemblies and strengthening economic cooperation. “Speaker Basha and Ambassador Laaksonen also discussed the readiness of Kosovo’s institutions toward community integration, and the importance of inter-institutional cooperation to advance the process,” a press release issued by the Assembly notes. “The friendship between Kosovo and Finland remains powerful and with a shared vision for integration and cooperation in line with our aspirations for membership in the European Union, and for a region that develops in peace, democracy and prosperity”.

Rexhepi: Voting in package is not a law; the separate vote was normal (KTV)

Kosovo Assembly Deputy Speaker from non-Serb non-majority communities, Emilija Rexhepi, said on Tuesday that it is not mandatory for deputy speakers from the communities to be voted in a package. She said that she got 73 votes and that there was no need to be voted in a package with a candidate from the Serb community. “It is normal that there was a separate vote. As a parliament and MPs, we can vote for the Serb representative separately. There is nothing written, and it was only a practice to have a vote in a package. But as members of the non-Serb community, as a multiethnic group, we agreed and we made a joint decision for a separate vote. There is no law for a vote in a package, it is not written in the Constitution, it was a practice,” she said in an interview with the TV station.

Rexhepi also argued that there would be no vote in a package for deputy speakers from the communities and that there would only be a vote for the deputy speaker from the Serb community as required by the Constitution.

COMKFOR Ulutas hosts UK Military Representative to NATO and EU (media)

Several news websites report that the commander of the NATO-led KFOR mission, Major General Ozkan Ulutas, hosted the United Kingdom Military Representative to NATO and the European Union, Lieutenant General Sir Ian Cave, at KFOR Headquarters in Pristina on Tuesday. “The two Generals discussed the current security situation in Kosovo and the wider region, highlighting KFOR’s role in fostering regional stability and supporting a constructive political dialogue. General Ulutaş expressed his appreciation for the United Kingdom’s continued and valuable support in maintaining a safe and secure environment for all people in Kosovo,” KFOR said in a Facebook post.

Albanian mayoral candidate in Gracanica: “Good cooperation with mayor” (Koha)

The candidate of the Albanian Alliance for the mayor in the municipality of Gracanica, Leutrim Ajeti, in an interview with KTV, said he has good cooperation with the current mayor, Liljana Subaric, who is a member of the Serbian List. “We want to cooperate for the good of the citizens. At the end of the day, the citizens don’t care about our relations. I have cooperated with the mayor, and we never mentioned political parties when we talked about the needs of the citizens. Since day one, we have discussed, and we have agreed to work on making the citizens happy. Because at the end of the day, no citizen in the municipalities care about what happens at the national level, because they care about the work at the municipal level,” he argued.

Asked if he would cooperate with the Serbian List after the October 12 municipal elections, Ajeti said he would cooperate with anyone if it is for the good of the people. “We need to cooperate with every political party for the good of the citizens. Without going into issues of nationalism, we are open for cooperation for the good of the citizens,” he said.

Serbian Language Media

Vucic: Perhaps it is an insult when I say “my stomach turns upside down” over Pristina’s statement on territorial integrity (Kosovo Online, KoSSev)

Commenting on the statements of Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani that he attempted to “ruin” the Brdo-Brioni Summit in Tirana with “arrogance and insults” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he strongly advocated for the Serbian policy in that gathering, and that he insulted no one. “Perhaps she (Vjosa Osmani) perceived as an “insult” my statements that my stomach turns upside down from Pristina’s stories about territorial integrity”, Vucic said, Kosovo Online portal reported.

“Imagine a representative of a fake state comes in and talks about territorial integrity and what one could expect? That the President of Serbia will not react? Do you expect I should remain silent when a Slovenian representative thinks we have no right to say what we think? I neither uttered a single nasty word nor inappropriate one. I only spoke about territorial integrity, UN Charter, Resolution 1244. I have strongly advocated for Serbia’s policy and interests”, Vucic told reporters during the tour of a creative-innovative, multifunctional digital center Lozionica in Belgrade.

Vucic said perhaps his comment to Osmani’s remarks that “Pristina wants and will continue insisting on its statehood” that he is always “happy to see her as a dear tourist at United Nations” was taken as an insult, adding “it was good that she also sees the view on East River, because it is magnificent”. “You should always come, take pictures, publish it on Instagram, that is your biggest reach. Differently, you can’t go to the UN”, Vucic said.

He said Croatian President Zoran Milanovic in response to his remarks about military alliance between Pristina, Tirana and Zagreb said these were “memorandums only”, however, Vucic continues even if they were “memorandums only” they are now going for joint acquisition of armaments. He opined that military alliances are not created just like that, and that each military alliance claiming they were defense ones at the end almost always have turned out not to be that.  

Selakovic writes to UNESCO's Azoulay over designations of Serbian heritage as Albanian (Tanjug, N1)

Serbian Minister of Culture Nikola Selakovic strongly condemned the fact Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo, including churches and monasteries, has been “maliciously designated as Albanian on Albanian-language Google maps”, Tanjug news agency reported.

In a letter to UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay, Selakovic noted it was his absolute duty to make an appeal and draw to her attention - and the attention of international experts and the wider international public - the "immediate and grave threat looming over Kosovo and Metohija, over Serbian cultural heritage that is universally important to entire humanity", the Ministry of Culture said in a statement.

"It (the heritage) is mainly holy sites dating back from as early as the Middle Ages that are endowments and the resting places of Serbian kings, saints and their remains, as well as, at the same time, living temples of the Serbian Orthodox Church", the statement said. The temples, such as the Patriarchate of Pec, the Church of the Mother of God of Ljevis, the Gracanica and Banjska monasteries and many other holy sites, "practically all temples of the Serbian nation and the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo-Metohija represent the core of the spirituality of the Serbian nation and the pillar of its comprehensive history and identity”, Selakovic wrote in the letter.

"After decades of burning, razing and desecration - due to which the Serbian cultural heritage has been on the list of endangered cultural heritage for 20 years now, it may seem as though the reason (for writing this letter) is a less drastic one. However, it only seems so", he warned. "From its burdensome history, the Serbian nation has learned that attempts to take its cultural treasure herald much more grave events", the letter notes.

Lawyer: Contradictory statements in Kostic and Milovic war crimes trial (Radio KIM, KoSSev)

By interviewing the two new witnesses of the prosecution at the Basic Court in Pristina, the trial of Zoran Kostic and Dragan Milovic continued yesterday, Radio KIM reported. Kostic and Milovic are accused of allegedly committing war crimes against the civilian population in the Vucitrn area during the conflict in 1999.

Zoran Kostic’s defense lawyer Predrag Miljkovic said “these two witnesses” the prosecutor “took out of her pocket, after a year and a half”, referencing the period when indictment was raised. “These witnesses were not proposed by indictment, and were known to prosecution at the time the indictment was upheld. They are here now, I can freely say, to construct the proceeding against Zoran Kostic. These two witnesses testified about events that in no way relate to indictment’s dispositive and with what Zoran Kostic is accused of by the indictment”.

“They speak of some completely unrelated events. They describe Zoran as a tall, grey-haired man, everything that Zoran was not in 1998 and is not today. They describe seeing him from a distance of 300, 500 meters. It is simply unbelievable that any living person can see at 300-350 meters distances. This is the size of three football stadiums (merged together). But you have seen it today, they had some super powers”, the lawyer argued.

He also said there were many contradictions during the trial. “Twice or three times they even refused to answer some questions. I do not know where this right of the witness comes from, to refuse to answer the question, but there it is, the court easily ignored some of the witnesses' decisions”, Miljkovic added.

Zoran Kostic and Dragan Milovic were arrested together with Ilija Elezovic on September 20, 2023. Elezovic, who suffered from terminal cancer, died in the meantime. The indictment against Kostic and Milovic was raised in May 2024, while the trial started in December last year. They remain in detention since their arrest. 

Apartment of the Bojic family from Leposavic allocated to an Albanian man (Kosovo Online)

Milivoje Bojic was taken in for questioning at the local Kosovo police station in Leposavic on Tuesday, following a report allegedly filed by Emran Gushani, who claims that Leposavic municipality and Kosovo Government have allocated to him the apartment currently used by the Serb Bojic family, Kosovo Online portal reported.

The Bojic family said the apartment they moved into last year was allocated to them by the Serbian Government’s Commissariat for Refugees, they fully furnished it and moved in legally. However, according to Ivana Bojic, daughter of the detained Milivoje, the situation has now become extremely uncertain.

“We have a valid reason to be here today, because my father was taken in for questioning this morning regarding the apartment. On the other hand, that same apartment was allocated by the Kosovo government or Leposavic Municipality to Emran Gushani on September 1. He allegedly received some sort of usage contract, and we were told that they would come today to evict us. Of course, they didn’t, but we were waiting for them - we’re completely confused and don’t know what to do”, Bojic said.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/qBxnU

Elektrosever: Leposavic municipality did not submit necessary documentation to connect building without electricity (KoSSev)

Residents of a building for socially vulnerable and displaced persons from Leposavic, housing 21 families, still await connection to electric-power grid, while Elektrosever Company in a reply to KoSSev portal said the procedure was slowed down because Leposavic municipality did not submit requested documentation. The Company said Leposavic municipality filed a request to connect the building to electric-power grid, which was forwarded to KEDS Company, a responsible operator of a distribution system to issue a decision on connecting.

As it was said, KEDS requested additional technical documentation about the building, installations and needed voltage, but that “according to available documentation, the municipal services did not submit requested documents, which slows down the process of connecting the building”.

As Leposavic deputy mayor Marina Radojevic said two days ago, the residents of the building, including small children, elderly and sick people, for almost two months live without electricity. According to her, despite repeated requests sent to Elektrosever, those responsible in Pristina and KEK Company over the issue, the responses received were saying this was about “an illegal object”. She also said that other buildings of the same type were connected to the electricity.

The buildings in question were financed by the Serbian Government through the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, but were taken over by Leposavic municipality in 2023. They were meant to accommodate displaced persons, refugees and socially vulnerable familes.  

KFOR Commander met UK General Cave, discussed security situation in Kosovo and region (media, social media)

“Commander of the NATO-led KFOR mission, Major General Özkan Ulutaş, welcomed the United Kingdom Military Representative to NATO and the European Union, Lieutenant General Sir Ian Cave, at KFOR Headquarters in Camp Film City, Pristina”, Serbian media reported citing KFOR statement published on Facebook.

“The two Generals discussed the current security situation in Kosovo and the wider region, highlighting KFOR’s role in fostering regional stability and supporting a constructive political dialogue. General Ulutaş expressed his appreciation for the United Kingdom’s continued and valuable support in maintaining a safe and secure environment for all people in Kosovo”, the statement added.

It was also said that KFOR continues to implement its mandate - based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999 - to contribute to a safe and secure environment for all people and communities living in Kosovo and freedom of movement, at all times and impartially. KFOR works in close coordination with the Kosovo Police and the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) in their respective roles as security responders.

Vucic: We will talk to Russians about NIS, there is nothing to be discussed with US anymore (Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that, due to looming US sanctions on Serbia's Russian-majority owned oil company NIS, many problems, and probably difficult decisions as well, were ahead but that efforts would be made to protect the country. He noted that the issue would be discussed with the Russian side, while there was nothing to be discussed with the US anymore, Tanjug news agency reported.

"On the other hand, I hope the company will not be laying off a large number of employees. In any case, we will discuss everything with the Russians, but now there is nothing to be discussed with the Americans anymore. They have got what they want. The Europeans will back the US sanctions. I am quite certain JANAF will stop supplying oil after a short period of time. Therefore, we have that physical problem", Vucic said in response to questions from reporters.

He said there was another, perhaps bigger problem - a financial and banking one, because "no bank in the world will want to bypass US sanctions".

International Media

Albania judges warned police of threats before fatal court shooting (Balkan Insight)

The shocking killing of judge Astrit Kalaja on Monday inside a Tirana court has led to serious questions over levels of security in the country’s institutions.

Albanian authorities had been warned that court officials were facing rising threats of violence and wanted more security before the murder of a judge on Monday inside one of the country’s highest courts, BIRN can reveal. Albania’s authorities are investigating how a gun was smuggled into Tirana’s Court of Appeal in order to shoot and kill a judge during a trial on Monday.

The shooting of judge Astrit Kalaja and two others, a father and son who were wounded, took place during a court hearing over a property dispute. Police said they have arrested a 30-year-old suspect named by Albanian media as Elvis Shkembi. 

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/I5XaV