Was Kosovo's security violated by the suspected spying couple?

The case of the two people in Croatia's arrest on spying allegations for Serbia, made known in late August, continues to be full of unknowns, just as activities they are accused of doing in Kosovo.

A Croatian pilot, identified as J.I., who was told that he served in the peacekeeping mission of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Kosovo KFOR, allegedly discovered to his girlfriend, A.M., Serbian from North Mitrovica, sensitive information which, later, she has reportedly forwarded to the main party of Serbs in Kosovo. (Serbian List, which enjoys official Belgrade's support, has denied knowing the suspect of spying.)

Croatian media, Slobodna Dalmacija, reported that investigators, on the basis of a judicial order, have checked their mobile equipment and communications, where they have found compromising messages that have prompted them to suspect international spying.

Both have been assigned detention measures, but the entire investigation remains secret, in order that, as Croatian authorities have argued, the process will not be damaged.

In Kosovo, the case raised an important question: was the country's national security at risk?

Kosovo's Ministry of Internal Affairs has not answered Radio Europe's free questions about the possible impact of this case on domestic security.

For Life Loshan, researcher at the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (QKSS), this suspected case, which she considers serious, has presented no direct security risk, as she argues there is no information that “has compromised critical information on Kosovo or the Kosovo Security Force”.

However, in a broader way, Kosovo's national security has been violated by the fact that Serbian services, in co-operation with the Russian, are continuing to try to infiltrate sustainable structures, and to test the resistance of the security systems”, she tells Radio Free Europe.

Meanwhile, security expert Burim Ramadani estimates that spying cases from hostile states are complicated, and national security may endanger.

The latest “case is evidence that Kosovo constantly faces fierce, aggressive war through hostile Serbian, Russian and other” intelligence, he tells Radio Free Europe, stressing that spying cases could take several years to resolve.

“Unopened spying struggle with NATO”
Ramadani and Loshaj see this alleged case as a broader attempt by Serbia to infiltrate Kosovo's security systems, which also shows access, according to them, to Belgrade's hostile to NATO, where Serbia is not a member but is part of its Partnership for Peace Programme.

“in terms of regional and international security, this is one of the cases that prove that the hostile state, Serbia, is not only non-co-operative and has hostile ambitions against other states, but it tends to be hostile to use assets or instruments of NATO states, and this is an open war of spying, which Serbia does with NATO, not only with Kosovo”, says Ramadan.

One concern Loshaj raises is that information that may have been collected, both for Kosovo's co-operation with NATO and for alliance troops themselves, may also have been transferred to Russia “that may have been linked to the geopolitical rivalry that we now see at”, she says.

According to her, this should be alarming that security systems are not limited to the bilatheral level, but have broader dimensions.

The “is part of a broader Serbia effort to test NATO resistance and identify weaknesses in Euro-Atlantic security architecture”, it says.

Two security connoisseurs view the suspects as successful, while Ramadani says, beyond individuals, the value of the Croatian operation remains at “the destruction of hostile operations”.

However, Loshaj says this alleged case of spying pointed out that there are security gaps -- “such as the weakness of deeper co-ordination between NATO, Croatia and Kosovo -- to address Serbia's” operations.

What did the authorities say?
Croatian authorities, which uncovered the case, have provided little details about it. Defence Minister Ivan Anuspi said on September 2nd that the Croatian Army's reputation has been damaged, but not national security.

He [the arrested pilot] did not have that level of security permit to enable him to have all the information he needed, which could endanger the security and ability of the Croatian Armed Forces”, he said.

Kosovo has expressed readiness to co-operate with Croatia, as the Special Prosecutor has been directed to Zagreb authorities to provide evidence for Kosovo citizens A.M. The MPB has not answered REL's question if Croatia has called for co-operation.

Ramadani says Kosovo should seek the extradition of A.M. in Kosovo, in order for it to face justice, at the place where it allegedly carried out the spying activity.

Meanwhile, following the discovery of the case by Croatian media, Kosovo police raided their home in North Mitrovica, and there they found “out, several shellings and bullets”.

A.M. It is reported that in the past it has been working on the European Union's mission to End Law in Kosovo (EULEX).

Croatian media have reported, calling to sources, that it had collected and transferred, through encrypted platforms, data from the Serbian List on the movement of KFOR and Serb members to the north.

NATO has told Radio Europe Free that “takes seriously” these accusations, adding that it has priority the safety of its personnel and mission in Kosovo and “the integrity of classified information”.

In KFOR, close to 4,800 members, 152 of them are from Croatia. /Periscopi/