Kosovo door open for Russian diplomacy

Researchers say that by 2005, when the Russian Liaison Office was opened in Pristina, dozens of Russian diplomats have been on a mission in Pristina.

Lulzim Peci, former Kosovo diplomats, now director of the Kosovar Institute for Research and Development of Politics (KIPRED), says the Russian Office has recently been among the biggest diplomatic missions in Kosovo.

“As I know, in this office over ten diplomats have been in recent times that, for the number of diplomats, perhaps after the U.S., perhaps there was a mission with mostly diplomats”, says Peci.

When was the Russian Liaison Office opened in Pristina?
Russia formalised its diplomatic presence in Kosovo in 2005, when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov then attended the solemn opening of this office in Pristina.

Kosovo was then administered by the UN administration and chief administrator was Soren Jessen-Petersen, who together with Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi attended the opening ceremony of the Russian office.

Kosumi's participation in the event, at least publicly, is known as the sole visit of a Kosovo official to the Russian Liaison Office in Pristina.

In the last 16 years, the Russian Liaison Office in Pristina has been conducting largely silent activities.

Although, according to civil society organisations in recent years, there have been up to ten diplomats, the activity of this office has shown very little in public.

All that is found online for her activities are photos of meetings with international mission officials such as EULEX and UNMIK.

Attention to the Russian Liaison Office returned on October 22nd when Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani announced the announcement of persons <x0non-marta” of two Russian diplomats working for this office.

For them, there was information that they had “determined the national security and constitutional order of Kosovo”.

Following the expulsion of two Russian diplomats from Kosovo, Radio Free Europe has expressed interest in speaking with officials of the Russian Liaison Office in Pristina.

In telephone communication, Free Europe Radio has been told that the evental questions will be sent via e - mail and said an answer will be returned.

Yet, despite this, this office has no longer answered any of the REL's demands.

How does the Russian Office work?
By 2005 The Russian Liaison Office operates under an umbrella of accreditation to the UNMIK mission based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

Members of the liaison offices do not submit to any visa regime and have access to and stay in Kosovo. They are equipped with special documents from the UN and have the right to enter and leave Kosovo territory whenever they want.

Apart from other immunitys defined by this regulation, the staff of the Russian Interconnecting Office in Pristina has full immunity “from criminal, civilian and local administrative jurisdiction”.

Besides the immune staff, the facilities of the liaison offices are immune.

Under the regulation, the liaison Office's assets and assets are immune to raids, orders of local institutions, sequencing and any form of intervention, whether by executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action.

For the operation of this office, Radio Free Europe has tried to receive some answers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora in Kosovo.

Free Europe Radio has asked this minister if there has been any communication with this office and what activities are allowed under the laws of Kosovo.

The MPJD has not responded to REL's interest by leaving without answer many questions, including questions about diplomatic staff, the way they are accredited to operate in Kosovo, as well as activities in which the Russian Office is involved.

UN Shuns Comments on Russian Office in Kosovo
But, despite complex reports between Kosovo and Russia, in the UNMIK mission in Kosovo, they have not commented on how the Russian Liaison Office functions and activities it permits.

UNMIK has referred to it REL contact the United Nations Secretary General's Office on this matter.

A spokesman from this office, except that he said they are aware of the expulsion of two Russian diplomats and that they are in touch with all the parties involved made no other comment.

As far as the Russian Office's accreditation in Pristina is concerned, he said the issue is regulated by UNMIK's arrangement for the opening and functioning of liaison offices in Kosovo.

Former diplomat Peci has investigated Russia's influence in Kosovo and says Russia's greatest influence is on the Serb population.

“Brenda in Kosovo Russia has tremendous impact on the Serb population, especially the one in the north, which sees Vladimir Putin as a kind of savior and has not been incidentally the arrival of Russia's ambassador to Belgrade, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, during the crisis that was in September at the Kosovo border to inspect Serbia's military troops there, says Peci.

Russian influence on Kosovo Serbs
The constatement of former diplomat Peci that Russia has greater influence in Serb majority cities in Kosovo and also stress reports of other non-governmental organisations.

In one of the reports published in 2020 by the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies-(QKSS), titled “Russian interference in Kosovo under the shadow of myth and reality”, among other things, talks about the impact Russian diplomats of the Interconnecting Office in Kosovo have on Serbian political parties as well as the Serb population living in Kosovo.

This report, among other things, says that diplomats of this office participate in meetings of the Serb community.

Another way of extending Russia's influence on local Serbs in Kosovo, according to this report is by using the influence that official Belgrade has on them.

But, the executive director of the North Mitrovica-based New Social Initiative, Jovana Radosavlevlik, thinks the Russian influence in northern municipalities is not at the level portrayed.

“Direct has no visible effect. It means I can't pretend that there is nothing, but it's not visible and it's not in the form that it's portrayed”, Radosavlevic says.

Speaking of the Russian Interconnection Office's activity in Kosovo, she says that in Serb majority municipalities, no interference or tendency for direct influence is seen.

“They don't have the same approach in the sense of providing funds for civil society, for example. They may be interested in supporting reconstruction or something, but I am unaware of any such influence or activity in Serb municipalities in Kosovo”, Radosavlevic said.

Both Radosavevqi and Peci say Russia's influence on Kosovo Serbs always depends on the impact Russia has on Belgrade.

Since Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence Russia is among the main opponents of the state of Kosovo.

Russia, in addition to rejecting independence, has been Serbia's main ally in blocking Kosovo's membership in international organisations.

The 2018 meeting between former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

Despite reports not as friendly, in 2018 at an event in Paris, France, many were surprised to see a photograph of the then meeting of Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At this meeting, Thaci and Putin were said to talk about dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia for years, held in Brussels.

It said Russia would be willing to support any final agreement the two sides agree on.