A mini-documentary produced by the editor covering the field of Defense at the British newspaper "The Telegraph", Danielle Sheridan, brought the tensions between Kosovo and Serbia back into the local and international public discourse.
The documentary was released on April 9, 2024, with the title used on social media "Could Kosovo become the next Ukraine?" and the other title on the website "Kosovo police loaded with weapons on Serbian border as tensions rise", was talking about how the Kosovo Police prepares when it goes into the field on the border with its northern neighbor.
But, in addition to this story, the possibility of an invasion of Kosovo by Serbia was also mentioned.
"Security has been heightened as fears grow that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is planning an invasion aided by his ally Vladimir Putin," is the documentary's subtitle.
For this reason, it seems that the British media had obtained a statement by the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, given to this daily some time ago.
“In an interview with The Telegraph, Albin Kurti, the prime minister of Kosovo, warned that Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, was planning an invasion. He said Serbia had built forward operating bases around the border in a ‘horseshoe shape’ to ‘defend Belgrade and attack Kosovo.’”
"Based on President Vučić's own words, Prime Minister Kurti believes that the Serbian president is biding his time for an opportunity to invade."
"President Vučić's friendship with Vladimir Putin is well-known, and Kurti believes it is in the Russian leader's interest for Serbia to invade Kosovo, as this would distract attention from his war in Ukraine," this medium wrote, among other things.
Veton Elshani, deputy police commander in the north, agreed with Kurti's claim in this mini-documentary. "It's no surprise that Vučić wants to invade," he said.
Journalist Sheridan, as she shared the article on X, said: "Watch (and read) our mini-documentary from Kosovo. It explores tensions between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in the north of the country and whether violence could erupt once again in the Western Balkans."
However, for some international commentators and journalists, such claims do not hold up.
(Dis)agree with Sheridan
Not to mention the criticism for the invasion warning, her international colleagues also didn't like her appearance.
Danielle Sheridan, in the "stand-up" performed for this article, was wearing a bulletproof vest, and this, according to her colleagues, does not represent the real security situation in Kosovo.
"A new war begins in the Balkans because a journalist from 'The Telegraph' really needed a story."
This is how the British media article described it on the X platform Camilla Bell-Davies, a journalist for several major international media outlets, "Financial Times", "The Economist", "The Guardian" and "The Times".
In addition to her criticism of the mini-documentary, but also of her appearance in a bulletproof vest, Sheridan also received criticism from another colleague, an opinion editor at "Euronews", but who also collaborates with "The Guardian", "Washington Post", "Haaretz" and "Tagessspigel", among others.
"A message to fellow journalists: you really need to stop going to peaceful places in full combat gear. If someone did this in a field in Flanders, they would be laughed at, and that's how it should be. What does this bring?" he wrote. Aleksandar Brezar in X, commenting on the documentary by "The Telegraph".
There was also ridicule for appearing in bulletproof vests from another fellow Spanish journalist, Raul Gallego Abellan, and also from other profiles on the X platform.
Even the former Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Petrit Selimi, criticized the journalist of “The Telegraph” for wearing bulletproof clothing. “Kosovo is certainly threatened by Serbia. But statistically it is safer than London. So bulletproof vests and camouflage clothes for journalists seem superfluous,” he wrote in X.
Meanwhile, an expert on the Western Balkans region thinks that invasion is possible.
American researcher Ivana Stradner, sharing and commenting on the article by “The Telegraph” in X with the title “Could Kosovo become the next Ukraine?”, said: “Yes, it is very likely.”
She based her claim on four events.
“1. In March, the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a report expecting an ‘increased risk of localized interethnic violence through 2024’ in the Balkans.”
"2. Last year in May, 90 NATO peacekeepers were injured in clashes with Serbian protesters in Kosovo."
"3. Last September, an officer and three attackers died after gunmen attacked a village near the Serbian border (the Banjska attack)."
And, “4. The American National Security Council official said: 'We were very concerned that Serbia might be preparing to launch a military invasion.'”
"This was the first round, it is very likely that we will see a second round. And don't forget that Serbia does not operate with tanks and aircraft. Paramilitary groups are the most important for Vucic's goals. Pay attention to special operations forces."
"The UK and the US know what is happening in the region," Stradner stressed.
Meanwhile, the head of the ruling party's deputies, the Vetëvendosje Movement, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, also supported journalist Sheridan's reporting.
Responding to the Serbian president's reaction regarding this documentary, she called the reporting from the north "true."
"The Serbian president, embittered and defeated, mocks a professional journalist from the English 'The Telegraph' for reporting truthfully from northern Kosovo. Such behavior from a leader with a delusional disorder has no place in the future. He must be internationally condemned," wrote the Head of the LVV Parliamentary Group on the X platform.
Vučić denies plans for invasion
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has denied that he is planning an invasion of Kosovo. In his profile on “Instagram", he dismissed "The Telegraph's" report, attaching an image taken from the Croatian media outlet "Jutarnji List", which had rebroadcast the British media's mini-documentary with the title "Horseshoe-shaped bases are being built! Putin has given his blessing, Vučić is preparing for invasion."
Vučić wrote that "more than 10 thousand texts with similar content have been written against Serbia in the last 25 months."
"No one has apologized for the lies they told. Not even for this one. Tomorrow this lie will be covered by a new one and so on ad infinitum. It is impossible to deny this kind of stupidity and insanity several times a day," the Serbian president wrote.
A potential attack by Serbia on Kosovo has also been denied by Germany's envoy for the Western Balkans, Manuel Sarrazin.
"I don't know anything about indications of a planned invasion of Kosovo by Serbia. I can tell you that in my last meetings in Belgrade last week, President Vučić re-assured me not to make such decisions, now you can ask the question 'does he trust him or not' and if you ask me this question, I would not answer you because everyone has to decide for themselves what to believe. But, we have no indications of this (invasion)," Sarrazin said in response to the question of "Nationals".
Based on the reactions of actors and experts on the security situation in the Western Balkans region, specifically the Kosovo-Serbia relationship, following the documentary by "The Telegraph", it is assessed that an attack or invasion by Serbia in Kosovo is possible, although remote.
Analytical article by Agon Osmani
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