Will there be war in Kosovo? This is the former NATO ambassador!

As they reach 25 years of bombing NATO over the former Yugoslavia, or more precisely what was left of Yugoslavia -- that is, over Serbia -- the echo of that action appears to have not faded yet.

The main actors of that moment take the time to say even today that in fact it was the right action to take, not only to protect the civilian population from Serb massacres, but also to teach a good lesson to anyone who thought that after the fall of the eastern wall, he could do what he wanted to do on the ruins of the former Persians.

We're Shea's ex-Sister. NATO at the time, has spoken for “Our Kosovo journal”.

Professor Jamie Shea greets you, nice to have you with us today. I want to start our conversation with developments of 25 years ago, when NATO began shelling Serbia to prevent serious war crimes against the civilian population in Kosovo. How do you remember that day, as the spokesman for the powerful alliance, can you show us some of the background, so what happened behind the official curtain?

“Bundadments have been conducted in order to protect Kosovo's population from further human rights violations. It was a tough day. It wasn't easy, but it was the right thing to do. And 25 years later, I continue to believe it was the right thing to do. I remember, of course, the tension, not knowing how long the air strike campaign would last. It was 78 days, which seemed to be a very, very long time back then. And of course, we had our ups and downs, as you know, especially in the communication field where we had our successes. But of course, we had things that went wrong, and explaining things that went wrong for public opinion was never easy. But on the other hand, as I said, I thought NATO was doing the right thing. We were interfering to protect the human rights of the people of Kosovo. But for me, certainly the best moment was the end, when I visited Pristina after the June 1999 bombing campaign and had a very warm greeting on the streets of Pristina from Kosovo. And for me, it was something that made all uncertainty worth it, all anxiety. It was a great moment and a wonderful memory. ”

Professor, I want to pass a little bit and in terms of security in Kosovo. American intelligence disclosed that there had been real fears Serbia had become ready to launch an invasion of Kosovo last September, several days after Banjska's attack. American intelligence also issued warnings of a high risk for interethnic conflicts in the Western Balkans. In the face of these threats and heavy Serbian arming with Russian and Chinese weapons, what should Kosovo do?

Well, I don't think we should dramatize the situation. I don't see the prospect of a war between Serbia and Kosovo. But there are tensions, of course, and this is one of the reasons why NATO sent additional forces to KFOR last year, both before the Banjska incident and after the Banjska incident, to ensure there are enough NATO soldiers in Kosovo, including in the north, to prevent any kind of aggression, from preventing any kind of attack. So NATO is very vigilant. The second thing, of course, is that NATO has called on Belgrade to dismantle any paramilitary structure, especially the organisation after the incident in Banjska. Those men were professional military. They were well armed. They were obviously trained. They were financially equipped. There should be an organisation after all this, and Serbs should investigate and dismantle those kinds of organisations. Of course, there is also concern about the situation in Bosnia and Republika Srpska with Mr. Dodik in Republika Srpska. And yes, you are right, there is no need for Belgrade to spend so much money on weapons, especially sophisticated Russian and Chinese weapons, because this is a country that wants to join the EU and in the future can be protected by the EU. And this is not a country someone in the region is threatening. So, yes, the situation is tense, but NATO is fully mobilised. So is the EU, to manage crises, prevent incidents, reduce tensions and, above all, restore political dialogue with Belgrade and Pristina to the tracks. ”

NATO has repeatedly stressed that KFOR is the guarantor of Kosovo's security and border, but in Banjska's case, the Kosovo Special Forces were the ones who reacted to what was considered an attempt to repeat the Russian scenario in Donbas. Despite that, many months have passed and we still have no measure towards Serbia, with the author wandering free. Surprisingly, Russia has issued arrest warrants against three Kosovo police officials for intervention in Banjska, which seems to confirm Russia's involvement in the attack. Why are internationals closing their eyes on this development?

I don't think the international community is closing one eye. My former chief in NATO, while I was still there, Jens Stoldenberg, was recently in Belgrade. He made it clear there must be an investigation. The EU, the US special envoy who was in Pristina this week, has also made it clear that any paramilitary structure in Serbia that is being used to destabilise the situation in Kosovo must be dissolved. That's clear. For now, there is pressure on Serbia. The other thing is, of course, Kosovo is an independent country and therefore its forces should be involved in protecting national territory, such as those police forces you mentioned. Of course, you would not want that job to be done by NATO forever and ever. And it is good that NATO has been there to train and equip the Kosovo security forces, which, of course, have their responsibility. And the police were acting extremely well during the Banjska incident. They courageously responded to the incriminating of paramilitary forces from Serbia. Reggressively, a policeman was killed, but they showed how professional they can be under very difficult circumstances. But since Banjska, NATO has increased its presence. It is working closer to Kosovo's security services, looking at the situation in the north much closer, is in a higher state of vigilance to prevent such a thing from happening again. Now, we do not expect Russia to behave in a stabilising way in the Western Balkans. This is seen as with Russian intervention in elections, for example, in northern Macedonia, its attempt to destabilise Montenegro before Montenegro joined NATO, arms sales you referred to, Russian hybrid war operations such as motorcycle gangs in the Balkans and so on. And of course, that's not useful. So I'm not surprised Russia is doing this for some kind of propagandistic influence. But Russia does not offer security to the Western Balkans. They do this alone. NATO and the European Union. ”

In the end, I want to ask you about the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. The impression has been created that mediation from the European Union is not balanced, prompted by punitive measures imposed against Kosovo, despite Serbia's making clear that it will not implement the normalisation agreement. On the other hand, the United States is also giving the impression that they are putting pressure only on Pristina. How do you assess these developments and what the future holds, taking into account the elections in America and the European Union.

That's a good question. It's important to be balanced. I've said that on many occasions. You need to be balanced in terms of incentives and pressure on both sides. There can be no concessions on the one hand, no concessions on the other. This will not produce long-term peace and stability. Belgrade has its responsibilities. That's very clear now. President Vucic agreed to the agreement on normalising relations in Ohrid, North Macedonia last year. He has accepted that agreement with Prime Minister Kurti, so he too has the responsibility to implement it in trust and at the same time. As I've often said, what we need is a period of relative tranquillity in the north after a series of incidents, as you know, by election, by provocation, by license plates. Now we have the situation with Decanin. So I think it is also very important for Prime Minister Kurti to show that he is also a reliable partner in front of the United States and the European Union. What has been successful in the past is that the Kosovo government has worked very, very closely with its big friends in the EU, NATO, with the United States, with my country, Great Britain. We've been good partners and we have to keep this partnership going. ”