Who is barred from entering Kosovo?

Finally, the list has been joined by Serbia's chief minister, Ana Brnabiq, and the United Nations official, employees of the UNMIK mission in Kosovo, Mikhail Krasnoschenkov of Russia, who was banned by Kosovo Police during the action against smuggling and organised crime in the northern part of Kosovo.

The list of names of unwanted persons, according to Kosovo's Foreign Ministry officials, is long and mainly includes names of officials, current politicians and former Serb Army leaders.

Kosovo Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials told Radio Free Europe that the list contains the names of dozens of people, who are mainly from Serbia, who cannot enter the territory of the Republic of Kosovo.

Liridon Llapashtica, political adviser to Kosovo Foreign Minister Behxhet Pacolli, said the list is updated from time to time, but recently, as he underlined, the number has increased.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo has a list which updates according to the developments and conduct of Serbia and its officials. Within the list, there are persons who, due to the criminal past, cannot invade Kosovo territory, are simply subject to arrest at the moment they are caught on our territory”.

The person's “List énon grataʹ is an instrument through which the Republic of Kosovo ensures that Serbia and its officials cannot pass without sanctioning measures as long as they are not fully aware of their past, as well as for the spread of mind and criminal behaviour, they will be held responsible by Kosovo institutions”, Llapashtica said.

The list Kosovo Foreign Ministry has with the names of people who cannot enter Kosovo, starts by the name of Serbian ultranationalist politician Vojislav Seshel, sentenced by The Hague tribunal, followed by Lubusha Divkovic, former Serbian Army General, then Serbian Interior and Defence Minister, to Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabiq.

Serbia's prime minister, Ana Brnabiq, said these days that in Kosovo, according to her, there are state officials “who have really come out of the mountain”. There were numerous reactions to this statement in Kosovo, the European Union, but even wider.

Kosovo Foreign Affairs Minister Behxhet Pacolli has pledged that as long as he is foreign minister, he will not allow the Serbian prime minister to enter Kosovo.

As long as it follows a racist and sick ideology against the people of Kosovo and between the ethnicities living here, it will not enter Kosovo”, Pacolli wrote.

Africa Hoti, professor of International Law at the University of Pristina, told Radio Free Europe that statements by various international authorities towards a sovereign country should be in the spirit of co-operation and such that promote friendship and respect of peoples, not the opposite.

Regarding the case of Kosovo and Serbia and recent statements by Prime Minister Brnabiq, Professor Hoti said such statements do not contribute to peace and stability, and, as he put it, they are sufficient arguments that it is not allowed to visit Kosovo.

“If presupposed or aprior is known that a Serbian authority is not consistently contributing to the general universal principles of civilised nations, which are respect, respect for the country's independence and sovereignty, they reserve the right to the same person not grant access and allow him to stay in Kosovo”, Hoti explains.

In his view, if the declarations of leaders or diplomats are not in a spirit of cooperation and do not contribute to peace and proper stability, the relevant state may react in various forms.

“In cases where an official is performing certain tasks I'm referring to here to the diplomat rank where by different actions both deklarative and not to talk about scandals of type when the country's institutions are hampered to materialise rule of order and law, then certain measures are taken, which may be first, the state's announcement sent by diplomatic representative and if the sending state doesn't take any measure then the person in question can be declared person ono grata “, said Hoti.

Whatever the case, authorities in Kosovo have said that the list of top Serbian state officials, who cannot enter Kosovo, is distributed at border crossings.

Besides officials from Serbia, there are other names from other countries whose entry to Kosovo is required. It is primarily about persons who lobby against the state of Kosovo and present to the world a view, according to institutions, the false “” for Kosovo.