Albanian Language Media:

• Osmani: U.S. doesn’t want us to keep bridge closed, but to set a joint date to open it (media)
• Osmani, Kurti thank Turkiye for cooperation in field of security (Koha)
• "Unforeseen developments", Lajcak won’t be EU ambassador in Switzerland (Koha)
• Kosovo will donate a fleet of vehicles to Ukraine (media)
• Peci says VV and Guxo are in coalition (media)
• Volker: West is strengthening Vucic, while undermining others in Balkans (RFE)

 

Serbian Language Media:

 

• Discarded and Invisible (KoSSev, Radar)
• Vucic: We will have many problems with Kurti's provocations (Kosovo Online)
• Dacic met with the president of Interpol in China, discussed the regional Interpol office in Belgrade (Blic)
• Elek: Kurti scores political points by mistreating Serbs, the persecution will continue because no one stops him (Kosovo Online, Tanjug, Kurir)
• Vucic informs Russian ambassador of situation in Kosovo (Tanjug)
• Rojevic: Interrupted checkpoint blockades; deadline to Pristina until October 1st to fulfil the demands (Danas, RTV, N1)
• Jovanovic: Silent exodus of Serbs from Kosovo occurring without media attention (FoNet, N1, KiM radio)

 

Albanian Language Media

 

Osmani: U.S. doesn’t want us to keep bridge closed, but to set a joint date to open it (media)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said in an interview with Kallxo that the United States has never asked for the main bridge over Iber river in Mitrovica to remain closed. She said the request of the U.S. is to jointly set a date for opening the bridge based on security assessments. “It is believed that preparations are needed with allies, a joint coordination on the issue of the bridge so that we can act together. The U.S. is never asking us to keep the bridge closed. It is asking us to sit together and jointly set a date based on joint security assessments. I don’t know who is refusing that because I don’t take part in the ambassador’s meeting with the government,” she said.

Osmani said that she never views the request for coordination as submission. She also said that the request of some international partners to discuss the issue of the bridge in Brussels was unacceptable.

“I understand the people’s frustration. The bridge should have never been closed. They [internationals] have liberated us. Not to ask them, but to coordinate together, even the biggest countries sit and agree with some countries on some things. We are country whose security depends on its partners too. It is in Kosovo’s interest to have NATO here and for the U.S. to support us, this doesn’t mean submission,” Osmani said.

Osmani, Kurti thank Turkiye for cooperation in field of security (Koha)

Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti have thanked Turkiye for the support in the field of foreign policy and defense. As the Presidency and the Prime Minister's Office have announced after the meetings with the Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, Osmani and Kurti have expressed commitment to deepening the relations.

"In the meeting with the Foreign Minister of Turkiye, Hakan Fidan, I thanked him for the friendship and support of the Turkish state for the Republic of Kosovo at every stage of the process. With the minister, we discussed the potential of cooperation, including the field of foreign policy and defense, as well as other areas of mutual interest. Strengthening the partnership between Kosovo and Turkiye remains a common commitment!" Osmani wrote on Facebook.

And in the announcement of the Prime Minister's Office, it is said that Kurti and Fidan discussed cooperation in the economy, security, defense and Euro-Atlantic integration. "Grateful for his visit and close cooperation, the Prime Minister expressed special thanks to Minister Fidan for the partnership in building the capacities of security and defense institutions, for Turkiye's contributing role for peace in Kosovo and the region through the NATO mission, KFOR and for its unconditional support in Kosovo's application to the Council of Europe", the announcement states.

"Unforeseen developments", Lajcak won’t be EU ambassador in Switzerland (Koha)

The emissary of the European Union for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, will not become the ambassador of the European Union in Switzerland, as was announced months ago.

"Due to unforeseen developments, the ambassador designated for Switzerland and Liechtenstein will not take up the post in Bern after all. Consequently, the mandate of the current ambassador has been extended until August 31, 2025," the EU Office in Switzerland announced on Twitter.

Kosovo will donate a fleet of vehicles to Ukraine (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Defense Ejup Macedonci has announced through a post on Facebook that during the 24th meeting of the Contact Group for Defense of Ukraine, in Ramstein, Germany, he presented the new aid package for Ukraine offered by Kosovo.

"This act of support is a sign of our active participation in the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine. Kosovo's aid to Ukraine, although smaller compared to some of your donations, proves the will of the people of the Republic of Kosovo to help the Ukrainian people in these difficult times", Maqedonci said.

According to him, this meeting was special because the presentation of the package, which is the third in a row from Kosovo, was made in the presence of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is participating in this forum in Ramstein, Germany for the first time.

Maqedonci said that Kosovo, as a member of the Demining Coalition, will continue to support this partnership with different capacities.

Peci says VV and Guxo are in coalition (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Agriculture, Faton Peci, also co-chairman of the Guxo Party, has spoken about the pre-election coalition with Vetevendosje, saying that they are part of it.

"GUXO will be very important in the coalition process that we have already achieved, which is not a formal coalition, as we also wanted, through the inclusion of the logo, however we are together, as we were in the last elections", said Peci in Klan Kosova.

He said that the deadline set by the CEC did not allow them to exhaust all statutory and legal aspects. "In this case, we are not talking about Guxo or Alternativa, but we are talking about the largest political entity in the country, the Vetevendosje Movement, because it is in their statute and their obligation for the pre-election coalitions to submit to a referendum, one member, one vote".

"Vetevendosje had somewhere over 60,000 registered members, and this meant that the process of organizing such a referendum would take time, despite the fact that we have also been informed of the decision made by the leadership of the political entity, Vetevendosje, in which they preferred the coalition or the continuation of the coalition between Vetevendosje Movement, Guxo and Alternativa", Peci continued.

Volker: West is strengthening Vucic, while undermining others in Balkans (RFE)

Kurt Volker, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, said in an interview with the news website that “we are constantly saying that we are trying to separate Serbia from Russia. [Serbia President Aleksandar] Vucic is claiming that he wants this too, but that he needs more time and space, therefore he is playing both sides”. “This is what the U.S. and France say is their policy – we need to separate Serbia from Russia. But to do this while strengthening the person that protects relations between Russia and Serbia, doesn’t seem to make much sense. Under Vucic, we have seen the strengthening of Serbian nationalism, efforts to undermine Montenegro, to support [Republika Srpska President] Milorad Dodik and to undermine Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.

According to Volker, the west is engaging more with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and slowly losing Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia. “There is a saying in the U.S. that we spend more time on our enemies than for our friends. Vucic is not an enemy, but we spend more time dealing with relations with him, rather than in promoting democratic values, institutions and reformers in other part of the Western Balkans,” he argued.

 

Serbian Language Media 

 

Discarded and Invisible (KoSSev, Radar)

By Tatjana Lazarevic

“On the first day of the new school year, September 2nd, the Pristina-based TV station Kanal 10 moved its well-known debate show Politiko out of the studio to the bottom of Mitrovica’s promenade. In a nearly five-hour special program from the northern side, on the street which Marko Djurić once dubbed „Mitrovica’s Knez Mihailova,“ journalist Kushtrim Sadiku enthusiastically hosted about ten guests after the summer break.

From police officers, a former minister, council members, and analysts to a parliament member who once stated in Kosovo’s Assembly that he regretted not killing more Serbs during the war and would have made sudžuk (cf. type of sausage) from them, all claimed the show was proof of peace and freedom. The heated debate in Albanian clashed with the sounds of children playing in what might be the only or certainly the most beloved place for children and parents in the only town in Kosovo where Serbs still hold the majority.

The sight of armchairs set up on a dimly lit promenade, occupied by people passionately faking that everything was fine—that Mitrovica was a free town, liberated from criminal groups, and that bridges united people—was in poor taste. How dull it feels to watch television from the perspective of an outsider! Equally uncomfortable was the lack of a view from another angle—a typical Albanian viewer. Do they, just like the Serbs, swallow the bait of a fake dolce vita and get intoxicated with boundless enthusiasm by this endless, increasingly primitive pre-election content?

Television is an illusion. The truth happens behind the camera. In the dark, real life unfolds—both bitter and sweet. Watching colleague Sadiku, I saw that citizens from these dark corners were invisible to them. That’s why I disagree with the flood of comments from my fellow citizens claiming “they came to provoke”. No, we are the ones who have been written off.

“Could you give us a little space?”—this was the response my young colleague received from Kosovo’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, on August 12th, when she asked about the reason for his visit. Despite her conspicuous politeness and persistence in doing her job, pointing her toward Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu, who was part of the ministerial trio that day, a member of Haxhiu’s team, after receiving brief instructions, asked the journalist, “Do you speak Albanian?” When she responded negatively, Haxhiu briefly and with relief said, “Sorry”, and continued walking, refusing to give a statement to a Serbian journalist, even in English.

Local Serbian-language media are largely ignored by Kosovo officials, in stark contrast to their fascination with northern Kosovo. 

Read more at:https://tinyurl.com/35dafrur

Vucic: We will have many problems with Kurti's provocations (Kosovo Online)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated yesterday in Krupanj that the country faces many problems related to Kosovo and the ongoing provocations by Albin Kurti, adding that several important visits are expected in the coming period.

"We will have many problems regarding the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, with Albin Kurti’s constant provocations. We have many challenges related to the Expo. Now, the Israeli president is visiting, soon there are the United Nations meetings, many visits, and before that, Brussels. Many visits, important events. So, we will keep pushing Serbia forward," Vucic said among other things, reported Kosovo Online. 

Dacic met with the president of Interpol in China, discussed the regional Interpol office in Belgrade (Blic)

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic met yesterday Interpol President Ahmed Naser Al Raisi, on the sidelines of the Global Forum on Cooperation in the Field of Public Security in Lianjungang, in the People's Republic of China, reported Blic yesterday.

Ivica Dacic pointed out that the MIA is a reliable partner when it comes to international cooperation, especially in the fight against organized crime. Dacic and Al Raisi discussed the further deepening of cooperation between the MIA and Interpol on a strategic and operational level, through an intensive exchange of information, joint training and the development of advanced technological solutions.

Also, the meeting discussed further steps for the establishment of a regional Interpol office in Belgrade. 

As pointed out, the establishment of a regional bureau would be important for the General Secretariat of Interpol for the countries in the region, which the regional bureau would serve, as well as for the Republic of Serbia, which would provide all the necessary conditions for its work. Minister Dacic invited Interpol President Al Raisi to visit Serbia in the coming period.

Elek: Kurti scores political points by mistreating Serbs, the persecution will continue because no one stops him (Kosovo Online, Tanjug, Kurir)

President of the Serbian List Zlatan Elek said on Saturday there was no doubt that Pristina would continue persecuting everything Serbian from Kosovo because, as he stated, those who have the mechanisms to stop them are doing nothing in that direction.

In an interview with Kurir, Elek emphasizes that the Serbian people in Kosovo have never been worse off than they are now, in the last 25 years. Regarding the elections in Kosovo in February, he claimed that Albin Kurti was scoring cheap political points by mistreating Serbs.

Elek pointed out that some statements by international representatives encourage the regime in Pristina to continue its actions against Serbs.

Read mor eat: https://tinyurl.com/ynwu6wy7

Vucic informs Russian ambassador of situation in Kosovo (Tanjug)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko in Loznica, western Serbia, on Friday to inform him of the situation in Kosovo and Pristina's daily provocations and threats to peace and stability.

"We discussed important matters of bilateral importance and interest to our two countries. I first informed Ambassador Botsan-Kharchenko of the situation in Kosovo-Metohija, the daily, brutal provocations, the daily threats to peace and stability and the inefficient response of all those who were involved in dialogue and should have guaranteed the results of that dialogue," Vucic said after the meeting.

He noted that he had informed the ambassador of the gravity of the position of Kosovo Serbs.

"It seems that we were met with understanding from the Russian side regarding that issue. We discussed all other important matters. When it comes to economic cooperation, we expect the construction of a dispatch centre by the Russian Railways. We expect further talks on many energy and infrastructure projects. Also, importantly for us, since Russia has helped us regarding the imposed Srebrenica resolution and other matters, we also discussed cooperation in the UN and other multilateral bodies and organisations," Vucic said.

Rojevic: Interrupted checkpoint blockades; deadline to Pristina until October 1st to fulfill the demands (Danas, RTV, N1)

The President of the Association of Citizens of the Kosovo-Mitrovica District, Rasa Rojevic, confirmed that the blockades at the administrative crossings of Brnjak and Merdare were ended after almost nine days.

"The Serbs have given the temporary institutions of Pristina until October 1st to normalize the situation, otherwise they will take more radical measures," the president of the Association of Citizens of the Kosovo-Mitrovica District, Rasa Rojevic, confirmed for Tanjug.

He said that there is no blockade at any administrative crossing, stating that the traffic in Jarinja was proceeding normally all the time, with the fact that the cargo traffic of those with documents of “Kosovo were stopped’. Rojevic pointed out that the Serbs in Kosovo are aware that their demands cannot be fulfilled "in a day", but that it is important to monitor that the Pristina side is working to fulfill the demands.

Jovanovic: Silent exodus of Serbs from Kosovo occurring without media attention (FoNet, N1, KiM radio)

People in northern Kosovo are terrified and uncertain about what to expect as events unfold rapidly, says journalist Jelena Petkovic. Law professor Miodrag Jovanovic highlighted that Serbs in Kosovo are left to fend for themselves amidst a silent exodus happening without media coverage.

Jovanovic pointed out that the events in the north are too synchronized to be considered coincidental. He noted, “When Vucic pulls his supporters for a pointless rally, Kosovo authorities easily take over buildings”. He added that when French President Emmanuel Macron left Serbia, Kosovo police entered Serbian institutions, sending a clear message to the people there.Kosovo has often been a test case for processes that later occur in the rest of Serbia, Jovanovic added. He referred to the monopolization of political life, the reduction of national issues to party interests, and the suppression of dissent, leading the community toward certain disappearance and exodus. The law professor believes that changing the current regime is essential to reversing these trends. He also stresses the need for the authentic voices of those living in Kosovo to be heard.

Petkovic asked why the Kosovo police’s incursion into Serbian-run institutions went without a response from top officials. Despite claims that Kosovo is integral to the Constitution and a key political issue, the feared actions are now taking place on the ground. She argued that these events align with the ultimate political goals of the Ohrid Agreement, noting that the document doesn’t address such brutal actions. Petkovic also warned that this violates Kosovo’s Stabilization and Association Agreement, which underscores the importance of relations with Serbian and other minority communities. People on the streets see long rifles, black-clad agents, and provocations. Additionally, the privatization agency has sold shops and apartments that people had bought, after years of silence, only for them to find out they no longer own them, Petkovic explained. This creates an atmosphere of fear and hopelessness, leaving people unable to believe that all this is happening in front of the international community without anyone saying, “Enough”. Petkovic understands the desire of many to leave Kosovo, asking who would want to live in such tension. “People born in 1999, now with children, simply don’t want their kids to grow up in constant stress and uncertainty about the future,” she concluded.