Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani blamed Serbia and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić for the shootout in northern Kosovo that left a policeman and three gunmen dead over the weekend.
“Kosovo is under attack,” Osmani told Reuters on Thursday. “The [armed] group simply exercised the intentions and the motives of Serbia as a country and Vučić as the leader.”
A group of about 30 heavily armed Serbs stormed a village in an ethnic Serbian-majority region of Kosovo on Sunday, ambushing a police patrol and then taking refuge in a nearby Orthodox monastery. A deadly shootout between the group and police resulted in the death of a Kosovan policeman and three of the gunmen. Two other gunmen were arrested, while the rest fled.
Kosovo’s leaders immediately pointed to Serbia, accusing its government of orchestrating the attack and arming the militia group. Vučić denied the accusations, but said the gunmen were local Kosovo Serbs who “do not want to suffer under Kurti’s terror anymore” and accused Kosovo of carrying out “brutal ethnic cleansing.”
On Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Kosovo concluded the attack was “coordinated and sophisticated,” and likely intended to destabilize the region.
On Thursday, Osmani said Serbia was trying to “carry out a Crimea model” in Kosovo, attempting to destabilize the Serbian-majority region. She warned that Kosovo will “not let that happen.”
“What I would say to President Vučić is stop messing with Kosovo,” Osmani told Reuters. “Kosovo is going to defend its freedom, its independence and its sovereignty at any price.”
Osmani also expressed concerns that similar attacks could happen again in the future, if Serbia is “not condemned.”
On Thursday, Vučić told Reuters Serbia will investigate the attack — including the origin of the weapons found by Kosovo police — but once again denied allegations of Serbia’s involvement.
“Why this would be beneficial for Belgrade? What would be the idea? To destroy our position we have been building for a year? To destroy this in a day?” he told Reuters. “Serbia does not want war.”
Kosovo and Serbia have long been at odds over the rights of ethnic Serbs in Kosovo’s north, despite attempts from the EU and the U.S. to broker a lasting peace. Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, but Serbia has refused to recognize it.
