Putin's man at the end of the week in Serbia: What is Nicolaus Ptrusev looking for in the Balkans at this time?

Pro-government media in Serbia have reported that the first Kremlin intelligence officer, Nikolai Pattrusev, is A Close Fellow Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Belgrade on 28 February.

According to these reports, which have reached international media, Ptrusev will talk with Serbian officials about claims that “merceners” from Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina “will fight against the Russian side”.

This information was presented recently by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Official confirmation of this visit is not yet available, as Serbia's presidency has not answered Radio Europe's free questions on the issue in question.

Warning of this visit by Russian officials has been made in the days when the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is escalating.

On 21 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a decision to recognise Ukraine's separatist regions -- Donjeck and Luhansk -- as independent states. Putin also ordered troop delivery there.

The West has started responding to Moscow's actions with new sanctions against individuals and separatist regions.

Russia, in fact, has been under sanctions since it illegally annexed the Ukrainian Crime Peninsula in 2014, and has started supporting the separatist movement east of Ukraine.

Fighting between the pro-Russian separatists and the still ongoing Ukrainian government forces has left more than 14,000 people dead.

With the start of the conflict, eight years ago, volunteers from Serbia and the Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina have also been found on the side of pro-Russian separatists.

This has been confirmed by judicial investigations in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the law prohibits participation in foreign areas.

On the other side of the front, that of Ukrainian forces has been fighters from Croatia, as part of the far-right Azov battalion, have highlighted the investigative reports.

Information that “mercenar” from Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are going to Ukraine has been published February 18th by the Russian news agency T The ASS, which has cited a statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

On February 20th, Kosovo authorities have dismissed Lavrov's claims as untrue.

Naim Rashit, director of the Balkan Policy Group in Pristina, tells Radio Free Europe that Patosevo's visit to Serbia is high-level and its true reason, according to him, is the issue of positioning Serbia and its president, Aleksandar Vuciq, to the Ukraine-Russia crisis.

He does not come [to Belgrade] for the sake of Kosovo and Albania mercenaries, but for what the plan is... So does Putin want another crisis in the Balkans and will Russia be part of this game? I think Vucciki has the most serious solution now”, Rashi says.

Former diplomat and former Albanian Deputy Defence Minister Dritan Hila estimates the Kremlin does not worry about “mercenaries”, who claim to fight side of Ukraine.

According to him, Albanians and Bosniaks have no motive for fighting in Ukraine.

He says Pattrusev's visit to Belgrade concerns, as he put it, the diversion Putin seeks to revive in NATO's background.

In this case, Albania is an appropriate place, especially Kosovo. It is Putin's desire to revive diversion in NATO's rear so that it can deal with its background and has no attention to helping Ukraine self-reliance”, says Hila for Radio Free Europe.

The Kosovo Parliament's deputies have called on the Government to hold a national security meeting, following Putin's decision on Donjeck and Luhanscu.

Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has said he will act in co-ordination with the US, the European Union and NATO.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspore in Kosovo has said Russian President “has made and continues to wage wars against democracy in Europe”.

Kosovo stands alongside Ukraine against Russian aggression. Putin is once again fighting a peaceful democracy. He has fought hybrid wars against democracies throughout Europe for years. The free world must firmly respond to Putin and his representatives”, it has written MPJD on Titter.

Albania's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olta Dzacka, has condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to Donjeck and Luhanscu, saying it constitutes violations of Ukraine's international law, sovereignty and integrity.

“Albania is united with partners and allies in support of Ukraine”, it has said through a post in Titter. / REL