Kurti says Vuciq is the problem, not Kosovo I mention Serb protesters with criminal record

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has provided an interview for Croatian television HRT, where he has talked about events in northern Kosovo, relations with Serbia, the national union and the position of American KFOR troops in Kosovo.

He has said it is not the problem in Kosovo, but in Serbia, while he has said the crisis at border points 1 and 31 has been initiated by Serbia's President Aleksandar Vuciq.

“We still have problems with Serbia, Kosovo is not a problem. The problem is Serbia, especially the president of that country that thinks and speaks as in the 1990s century. The Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings are in crisis, not because of Serbs, but because of Serbia's president. More than 11,000 vehicles from Serbia received the Kosovo Republic's provisional plates without problems. They cooperated with our police and our institutions. People at the barricades are paid by Serbia”, he has said.

He has also said that those who started the blockade in the north have a criminal past and part of the extreme groups that participated in Montenegro's coup several years ago.

Some of them have a record of criminal activities in the past, they have extreme views of politics and the world. Some of them also participated in a coup effort in Montenegro five years ago”, Kurti added, broadcast Express newspaper.

Kurti has also commented on the arrival of the Russian ambassador to the border with Kosovo and the attack on Kosovo institutions in the north.

“You bring the Minister of Defence to the border with Kosovo, along with Russian Ambassador to Serbia and the Russian Federation's Defence Atase in Belgrade. On the same day, they set fire to a building in Zubin Potok. Also, MiG-29 is running around Kosovo, helicopters and armoured vehicles produced by Russia... so they came with a military arsenal at the borders of our country. Our special forces are there, both in Brnjak and Jarinje. Let's not forget, a day after Kosovo's declaration of independence on February 18th 2008, they burned the Jarinje border points and Brnjak”, Kurti added.

Kurti has also talked about Serbia's domestic policy, saying there is only one party there and that the Serbian Orthodox Church is also a political party, saying there is no democratic pluralism.

You have a party. That party is the State. This country is also a church. That church is also a party. There's no pluralism there, they're pretending by democracy as if they're holding elections”

Kurti added that he is open to dialogue and that he has also expressed readiness for European Commission Chairman Ursula von der Leyeen. Kurti has also been asked about the national union and how he would vote in an evental referendum.

We are two states, Kosovo and Albania, but we are not two nations. We are a nation. The border between Kosovo and Albania, we can never forget that it is not the Albanian border or the border of Kosovo. It is the Yugoslav, Serbian border, and in that sense we want Pristina and Tirana to co-operate as closely, integrate and help each other”

He was finally asked if he thinks American troops, part of KFOR, will leave Kosovo.

I don't think they'll back off. Kosovo should be involved in the Partnership for Peace. Imagine, since 2006, Serbia has been taking weapons from Russia, Belarus and China, rather than Kosovo”, Kurti said,