The riots in Montenegro: Kosovo urged to take care of Serbian-Russian interests

According to them, calls yesterday for the return of the Serbian Army to Kosovo should not be overlooked as calling on some hooligans who have lost control, as Serbia remains well militarily and has an ally Russia.

Political Science Professor at Pristina University Arben Hajrullahu tells Kosovo that the Serbian Orthodox Church over the decades has sparked conflicts in the region.

Yesterday's events in Montenegro, Hajrullahu sees many concerns, while saying Russia plays a very destructive role in the region with minimal investments.

“Russia plays a very destructive and minimal investment role is reaching to create maximum destabilisation. This is noted in Montenegro now, but even earlier in Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a mare in creating this descalability and disincentive of the region on the path to Euro-Atlantic integration, which is both the ally and the most willing self-victation of Russian interests in the region... Montenegro, with the fact that it is a NATO member, is more secure and the question is whether there are these kinds of actions in the region, then Montenegro, as well as Kosovo and the entire region can be endangered and there can be greater, unnecessary, contradictory, counter-productive and European perspective of the region”, Hajrullahu said.

According to him, Kosovo is at risk at all times from Serbian rhetoric and aggression, which, as he says, is the “spokeswoman of Russian policies and interests”.

Kosovo is constantly endangered, in the first place by Serbian rhetoric or aggression, which is a kind of spokesman for Russian politics and interests, and the fact that when we listen to those songs in Montenegro, with the slogan, once one day when the army returns to Kosovo, these remind us of a similar or similar approach to the Taliban. So, in this case, Serbian politics is in the same line and with the same mind as the Taliban, which someday hope will create opportunities for one day military return to Kosovo... Kosovo must prioritize the issue of national security, which would be well guaranteed through NATO membership. If NATO membership is not possible, then Kosovo must work towards realising defence acts at the helm with the US”, Hajrullahu said.

International security expert Ilir Tower tells Kosovo Press that Balkan countries cannot enter a new conflict between themselves, but that frozen conflicts, both Bosnia and Kosovo, can be recycled.

According to him, Kosovo should work on military mobilisation and state consolidation, as it concerns a major military power such as Serbia, which Allies Russia.

Balkan countries cannot get into conflict between themselves, but frozen conflicts -- Bosnia and Kosovo -- can be recycled, and this is a very concrete opportunity in the situation we are in... After developments in Ukraine, the Middle East, in Nagorno-Karabakh and Afghanistan, the Kosovo political class, and especially that leadership should see the possibility of the Kosovo military's quick arms with defence capabilities, missile technology, defence military flying tools, special forces and return military service. Beyond the return of Kosovo's accession process to eventual EU enlargement throughout the Balkans, Kosovo must be clear that there is a large military power on the border with allied Russia, which does not only recognise Kosovo, but legally considers itself never left Kosovo. Therefore, yesterday's calls for the return of the Serbian Army to Kosovo should not be underestimated as calls for some hooligans who have lost control of”, the Tower said.

He stresses that Kosovo must return to its project alone, which, according to him, is the strengthening and consolidation of its modern state-formation policy.

And the executive director of “GeoPost”, Günn Venhari, says of KosovaPress, that public security institutions in Kosovo and the media should be careful in terms of disinformations from Serb-Russian circles in the Balkans, within the hybrid war.

The “Problems of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro began two years ago, with the attempt to form the Montenegrin Autocepal Church, and that is where the problems started. The biggest disaster is that the church and the clergy must serve God, they are serving various dams and policies aimed at destabilizing the Balkans... Russian intelligent forces in co-operation with the Orthodox Church require the destabilisation of Montenegro, not only now, but a long time... Not only Montenegro, but the entire region is endangered by this influence... Problems arise in other states, and Kosovo cannot escape these problems, so we need to be very careful about these problems surrounding the region”, Venhar said.

Kosova Preress has also tried to get an answer from the Kosovo government that he sees danger from yesterday's calls by Serbian priests “when the army in Kosovo will return”, but that the latter has not returned.

Regarding developments in Montenegro, where some protesters have rejected the maturity of the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, Ionanikije, the opposition has reacted.

Otherwise, this is not the first time there have been tensions in Montenegro's Cetinje. In 1992, then-Armfilohije's Mitrovici sent armed members of paramilitary formations from Serbia, led by Zeljko Raznatovic, known as Arkan, to Cetinje Monastery facilities, arguing that he must be protected by the “Montenegrin paraparatists”.

In the last 30 years, religious holidays in that city are marked in the presence of numerous police forces, as supporters of the Serbian Orthodox and non-kanic Orthodox Church celebrate separately.

Montenegrin national associations, almost all of the opposition led by President Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and Cetinje municipality representatives, rejected the ceremony of taking office of the Serb Orthodox Church in Montenegro, Ionanikije.

They view the ceremony as a symbol of Montenegro's “occupation” and an attempt to introduce Montenegro into the so-called Serbian “world “”. Serbia's Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin displayed this idea for the first time.

Vulin said at a rally of his party on July 18th that this generation of politicians' “is to create the Serbian world” and “brought Serbs together wherever they live”.

Objectors of the ceremony have demanded that it be held in any other Montenegrin city, except Cetinje. This town from Montenegrins is considered a cultural and historical centre.