Following the war in Ukraine, a disinformation campaign has been thrown around the Westminster hallways that Serbia “may be planning an ‘invasion’ on Kosovo.”
Interestingly, such conspiracy theories, with the potential to undermine the stability of the Western Balkans, can be easily fact-checked, so why is no one doing that?
The Pavlovic Today went directly to politician and Serbian Ambassador to the United States, Marko Djuric, to ask if there’s any truth to the rumors that Serbia is planning to invade Kosovo.
“Serbia takes a lot of pride in its active contribution to stability and peace in a region that has suffered tremendously three decades ago,” said the Serbian Ambassador, highlighting Serbia’s role in the factor of stability in the Western Balkans.
“As a result of our policies, there is a new paradigm of relations between most of the countries in the region, and I believe that it is now safe to say that the Balkanization of the Balkans is a thing of the past,” said Djuric.
The Serbian Ambassador to the US went on to say that Serbia is a strong believer “that closer cooperation on the regional and European level is the best possible answer to the challenges we are all facing.”
Djuric reminded the international community that “a good illustration to what extent things in our region have changed is the fact that our country [Serbia] is at this time showing solidarity with other countries in the region by providing or making available supplies of food and other commodities that have become scarce, to all of our partners in the region.”
Recently, the Serbian government, led by President Vucic, co-signed a regional initiative called “Open Balkans” to promote a free movement of people, goods, and services across the Western Balkans.
“One for all and all for one – is a philosophy of the Open Balkans initiative, centered at creating an area of free flow of goods, capital and services in the region by 2023. First concrete steps have already been taken,” explained Ambassador Djuric.
“This vision, initiated by President Vucic of Serbia, PM Rama of Albania, and PM Zaev of North Macedonia, is the new face of the entire region and a new reality on the ground that is already making the region more stable and resilient in the face of the ongoing crisis,” Ambassador Djuric concluded.
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