For Russia, Kosovo is Serbia. But for Serbia, Crimea is not Russia. Kosovo conflict. Help Position of Russia and the USA

Russia is investing a lot of money in the Balkan countries to undermine the EU and NATO. However, the West takes the situation in the Balkans seriously, and in Serbia itself there is an understanding that they cannot remain outside the EU and NATO. Diplomat, Maidan of Foreign Affairs expert Alexander Khara told Channel 24 about this.

According to the diplomat, the Balkans generally have a very long memory. They remember who killed whom two hundred years ago. What can we say about the Yugoslav war, which took place 19 years ago?

“Serbia is a small empire that has chauvinistic views towards its neighbors - the Croats or Bosniaks. They consider Kosovo their part. Serbs also have a great love for Russia, which supported dictator Slobodan Milosevic during the civil war in Yugoslavia. And they don’t like the Americans, who did not allow these territories to be returned to Serbia. In the center of Belgrade, they deliberately did not repair the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense that were bombed by the United States. As a reminder,” notes Alexander Khara.

Context

Espreso: Gazivodsk confrontation

Espreso 01.10.2018

Foreign Policy: Dividing Kosovo will lead to disaster

Foreign Policy 09.20.2018

Le Figaro: Solidarity with Serbs is not a crime!

Le Figaro 09/18/2018

Print: What will Vučić do with Kosovo?

Printed 09/11/2018 Therefore, he notes, the Balkans are the weak point of NATO and the EU. And the Kremlin is constantly trying to take advantage of this, shaking up the situation there. This was evident from the situation in Montenegro, where the Russians tried to stage a coup in 2016 (On October 16, 2016, Russian nationalists planned to eliminate the Prime Minister of Montenegro. According to investigators, the coup was planned to prevent Montenegro from joining NATO. People were recruited to carry out the coup by ex-diplomat and Russian GRU agent Eduard Shishmakov - editor's note). In Serbia, Russia is buying up businesses and has influence in the energy sector. In some countries in the Balkans, the Russians have bought up most of the businesses. For example, in Croatia, Montenegro, Bulgaria.

However, according to the diplomat, Kosovo is unlikely to be divided, because the country has the support of the West. And Putin, in his opinion, will not aggravate the conflict and send troops there.

“Russia will definitely not send its troops into Kosovo, although Serbia and Kosovo are not NATO members. Because this will be a serious escalation. Kosovo is a de facto state and will resist. The maximum that Russians are capable of is supporting destructive forces in these countries so that there is chaos there,” says Alexander Khara.

At the same time, the expert emphasizes that the Serbs want to join the EU and NATO. Because these alliances will allow Serbia to develop, and Russia is a destructive force that can only build a socialist camp.

“The West will react to the Balkans more seriously than to the beginning of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. There is actually an ideological decision on the part of NATO and the EU to absorb the Balkan countries. The EU understands that a new outbreak of violence will lead to a wave of refugees and even greater security costs for Europeans. Therefore, it is better to bring these countries along the path of bringing them to certain standards so that they become part of the European part,” emphasized Alexander Khara.

Let us recall that on September 29, Kosovo police special forces detained several Serbs at the Gazivoda Hydroelectric Power Station. According to security officials, the detention occurred before the visit of Kosovo President Hashim Thaci to the hydroelectric power station. In response, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic put the army on alert. Vucic said he expects to receive support from Russia due to the situation in Kosovo.

Why has the conflict in the Balkans escalated?

In July, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic floated the idea of ​​partitioning Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The scenario most often discussed involves recognition of northern Kosovo as part of Serbia. Another possibility is that the largely Albanian ethnic part of Southern Serbia could join Kosovo.

In early August, Serbia and Kosovo accused each other of encroaching on the northern regions. Belgrade warned that Kosovo security forces, backed by the United States, were planning a secret invasion of northern Kosovo, which is not under their control, where a significant portion of the Serbs live. In Pristina, they have information that Serbia plans to unilaterally proclaim Serbian autonomy in the north of Kosovo.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.

About the roots of the main Serbian problem

The political process in modern Serbia is still shaped around the main topic - the fate of Kosovo and Metohija. There is and is spreading the belief that if Serbia joins the EU, which will include both Kosovo and Albania, then the problem will be resolved by this new civil-political identity. At the same time, the government that will implement entry into the EU will supposedly be freed from the shameful and politically fatal stigma of being a traitor to Serbian history and the Serbian nation. Is it so? Historian Nikita Bondarev, head of the Center for Balkan Studies at RISS, reflects on the vital role of Kosovo and the policies of the Serbian elite.

On February 17, 2008, the parliament of the autonomous region of Kosovo, which had been under the control of the UN administration since June 1999, unilaterally announced separation from Serbia and the creation of an independent state “Republic of Kosovo” (in Albanian pronunciation - with emphasis on the second syllable and the final “ A"). The very next day, Kosovo's independence was recognized by France, Great Britain, Italy and the United States, as well as Afghanistan and Taiwan. Currently, Kosovo's independence is officially recognized by 76 states.

At the same time, Serbia, Russia, China, India, Greece, Spain, Romania, Slovakia and a number of other states refuse to recognize the newly proclaimed state, since its creation is not legally legitimate. The unilateral declaration of independence by the Kosovo authorities contradicts both the constitution of Serbia and UN Security Council resolution No. 1244 of 1999. That is, from the point of view of international legal norms, the declaration of independence of Kosovo is not legitimate, which, however, did not affect the position of the governments 76 states, including leading Western democracies. From a purely historical point of view, the declaration of independence of Kosovo was a triumph of a reverse, teleological perception of national history, which in itself is an extremely dangerous symptom for the entire region.

Any researcher who begins to study the situation in Kosovo, already at the initial stage, is faced with multiple interpretations of the Kosovo conflict itself and its background. The concept of “historicism” is generally accepted among both Serbs and Albanians, and the Serbs have their own vision of the history of the region, and the Albanians have theirs. International institutions have developed a purely negativistic understanding of the ontology of the crisis, based on the concept of “instant history.”

As an alternative to both “vulgar historicism” and Western pragmatism, we consider the interpretation of Kosovo as a sacred territory for the Serbs, the “Serbian Holy Land”, “Serbian Jerusalem”.

In the most lapidary presentation, the “historical” arguments of the Serbian side are as follows: the Albanians are invaders who invaded the cradle of Serbian culture and statehood, that is, Kosovo. The Albanians ousted the Serbs, settled into traditional Serbian territory and, ultimately, achieved separation from Serbia. However, Kosovo's independence from Serbia is an intermediate goal, and the main goal of the Kosovo separatists is to join Albania, thus creating a regional hegemonic superpower. This position has a completely scientific argument; various Serbian and foreign sources are cited in support of it.

The very emergence of the Albanian people, within the framework of the Serbian vision of the history of the region, is a consequence of the resettlement policy of the Ottoman Empire. Having slaughtered most of the population of Kosovo, the Turks began to populate it with migrants: from Asia Minor - ethnic Turks; from the Caucasus - Circassians and Lezgins; from the Middle East - Arabs and other Semitic peoples; from the inaccessible mountainous regions of modern Albania - descendants of the pre-Slavic autochthonous people of the Illyrians, who were not subject to the cultural influence of Byzantium. From all these components, according to Serbian scientists, the Albanian nation in its modern form arose on the territory of Kosovo and adjacent northern Albania at the end of the 15th century. This complex and confusing ethnogenesis for the Balkans is not something exceptional; the origin of the Bulgarian people, for example, is no less confusing.

Having emerged as a people as a result of the resettlement policy of Ottoman Turkey, the Albanians for some time did not cause any particular inconvenience to the indigenous population of the region, that is, the Serbs. But from the end of the 19th century, the Albanians decided to finally clear the Kosovo vilayet of Serbs; for this purpose, the so-called “League of Prizren” was created in the Kosovo city of Prizren in 1878, with which the history of all modern Albanian statehood begins. Taking advantage of the patronage of Istanbul, the Albanians ousted and destroyed the Serbs until 1912, when, as a result of the First Balkan War, the Kosovo part of the “Turkish inheritance” went to Serbia. The Albanians had to wait a while with mass anti-Serbian actions, but clashes on ethnic grounds took place throughout the 20s and 30s.

After the outbreak of World War II, Kosovo became part of the pro-fascist Greater Albania. From 1941 to 1945, the Albanians staged a local genocide against the Kosovo Serbs; according to Serbian scientists, more than ten thousand people were killed and about one hundred thousand were expelled. In the Serb-centric version of events, it is the “drama of the expulsion” of the Serbs from the region during the Second World War that underlies their current deplorable situation in Kosovo.

After the end of World War II and the creation of socialist Yugoslavia, Serbian refugees from Kosovo were prohibited from returning to their native places, while Albanians received all kinds of freedoms. In 1945, Kosovo was declared an autonomous region, in 1963 an autonomous region, and in 1974 the region was practically equal in rights with the union republics. This is a summary of the vision of the history of the Albanian presence in Kosovo within the framework of the pro-Serbian historical paradigm.

The Albanians have their own, equally ethnocentric, understanding of the Kosovo problem, based on a reverse perception of history and scientific argumentation of their “right of primacy” in Kosovo. Within the Albanian interpretation of the history of the region, they are the indigenous population of Kosovo, and the Serbs are the invaders.

According to the Albanian concept of history, they are the indigenous population of Kosovo, and the Serbs are the invaders.

The main Albanian thesis is that the ancestors of modern Albanians have always lived in the Balkans, unlike the Slavs, who came here only in the 6th century, along with the Visigoths and Huns, destroying everything in their path. The invaders, however, quickly adopted the Roman-Byzantine culture from the indigenous population, the bearers of which were the ancestors of modern Albanians, then adopted Christianity and recognized the power of Constantinople.

Fundamentally important for the Albanian assertion of the right to Kosovo is the fact that in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the Albanians stood against the Turkish invaders side by side with the Serbs. And after the Battle of Kosovo, when Serbia, torn apart by internecine strife, was falling apart, gradually surrendering its territory to the Ottomans, an Albanian, George Kastrioti, who went down in history as Skanderbeg, was at the head of the resistance to the Turks. Based on the Albanian concept of Kosovo's history, this fact alone would be enough to disavow Serbian attempts to present the Turks and Albanians as allies and like-minded people.

A simple comparison of the main provisions of the Albanian and Serbian visions of the history of the Kosovo crisis reveals a surprising coincidence of the main ideological emphases of both theories. Prominent Russian Balkanist A.A. In this regard, Ulunyan puts forward the thesis about the “bloc structure of the national question in the Balkans” and identifies several ideological modules characteristic of the ideological interpretations of their national history by all Balkan peoples. The ideological justification for the need to gain statehood or expand the borders of an existing state is also based on several blocks or paths that are identical for all Balkan peoples.

This is the idea of ​​“historical right” (real or imaginary belonging of a particular territory to a particular people), the idea of ​​“preservation/return of historical heritage”, the idea of ​​“gathering lands” inhabited by fellow tribesmen, the idea of ​​“equality of various Balkan peoples” (in this context - egalitarian division of the imperial inheritance, the right of all peoples to fertile lands and access to the sea). The purpose and meaning of all these modules is “mobilizing society to implement a geopolitical idea” and “forming a concept of national interest and national security.”

Thus, historical parallels, aberrations and generally reverse perceptions of history are not a reflection of the deliberate defamation of historical science and historical memory in the Balkan region. Rather, here we can talk about the actualization of history - in moments of crisis for the Balkan peoples, history ceases to be a “teacher of life” (historia est magistra vitae), but literally becomes the content of life. What we have before us is not the “end of history” that the American philosopher F. Fukuyama wrote about, but, on the contrary, the flow of history into everyday life, total history.

The key concept for the West’s interpretation of Balkan historical paradigms was the concept of “instant history,” literally “instant history.”

This concept, largely based on the ideas of Fukuyama, was declared as the only possible interpretation of the historical aspect of the ideological constructions of the Balkan peoples in the article “Instant history: how to correctly understand the wars on the territory of the former Yugoslavia,” published in 1996 in the academic publication “Slavic” Review". The authors of this landmark article were four prominent specialists in the history of the Balkans - G. Stokes, J. Lampe, D. Rusinov and D. Mostow. In this article, prominent scientists called on the scientific community and political analysts to a priori ignore any historical reminiscences found in the ideological concepts of Balkan politicians, any calls for “historical justice”, references to “historical borders” and “historical heritage”. The authors of the article convince the reader that in the Balkans historical science is nothing more than a collection of historical anecdotes and incidents that can be easily adapted to the needs of today. Each of the peoples of the former Yugoslavia has its own compendium of such historical anecdotes, from which one can endlessly draw reminiscences suitable for any occasion. Also, each of the conflicting parties for each such “historical anecdote” (the battle on Kosovo Field, for example) has a whole system of scientific evidence, which is almost impossible to refute within the framework of a civilized discussion. Needless to say, the “instant history of the Serbs” exists only to contradict the “instant history of the Albanians”, and vice versa.

The vicious circle of endless historical reminiscences must be broken by completely ignoring them - this is the conclusion proposed by the authors of the article. Calls for “historical justice,” respect for “historical boundaries,” and respect for “historical law” can and should be ignored. Like all intellectual strategies based on simplification, the idea of ​​“instant history” in relation to the Kosovo crisis quickly gained many supporters, and became fundamental for American foreign policy.

A staunch supporter of the concept of “instant history” was, in particular, US Secretary of State (1997-2001) Madeleine Albright, with whose active participation Kosovo was de facto torn away from Serbia after military operations in 1999. In her memoirs, she describes the negotiation process as follows for Kosovo:

“The Serbs give us lectures from which it follows that Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia. Then the Albanians tell us about the Albanian history of Kosovo. We agree with both... We tell each party what they want to hear, and advise them not to believe what they hear from anyone else. And this tactic works great!”

It is obvious that M. Albright, due to certain purely personal qualities that we do not consider appropriate to discuss, perceived the concept of “instant history” primarily as the right not to pay attention to the arguments of the parties involved in the conflict, not to be interested in the origins of the conflict, but to be guided solely by her own own understanding of the current moment. But also as a kind of indulgence, allowing her to outright lie if the interlocutor resorts to historical argumentation.

In the memoirs of M. Albright there is a description of an extremely revealing meeting in this context with the Serbian Bishop Artemy (Radosavljevic) in the Kosovo monastery of Gracanica, at the end of the military campaign of 1999. The Bishop shows the head of the American foreign policy department photographs of destroyed Orthodox churches and expresses fear that all Serbs will soon , apparently, will have to leave Kosovo. “I assured him,” Ms. Albright writes, “that NATO and UN peacekeeping forces would do everything to make his people feel safe.” The Secretary of State guaranteed the bishop the safety of Serbian shrines in Kosovo and promised that the Kosovo Serbs would not be separated from Serbia. M. Albright explains to his readers that this was a forced lie, because it was simply impossible to talk otherwise with a person who constantly appeals to ancient history, using the authority of his rank. In fact, the Serbs in Kosovo have no future - “Kosovo, which many Serbs reverence as the heart of their nation, has long grown into someone else’s body.”

The recognition of Kosovo independence by the main actors in international political life can be regarded as a logical, natural result of the triumph of the concept of “instant history”, and the “pragmatism” that logically follows from it, over the basic principles of international security and common sense.

A fatal mistake on a global scale, which is the recognition of Kosovo’s independence, could have been avoided if the international community had not fenced itself off from the complex and ambiguous history of the region with the bogeyman “instant history”. Unfortunately, in the case of Kosovo, Western policy is becoming not only biased and biased, but also more and more “pragmatic,” that is, simplistic.

Moreover, not only American liberal democrats (“Lebdems”), represented by Albright, Mr. Clinton and Mrs. Clinton, are guilty of simplistic behavior, but also American neoconservatives (“neocons”), represented, for example, by Dick Cheney. With regard to the Kosovo issue, there is no significant difference at all between these two camps. Oversimplification and the desire to dehistoricize the Kosovo conflict are also characteristic of independent American political thinkers of a conservative bent, for example, Edward Luttwak, who is very popular in certain political circles in Russia. In the fourth issue of Foreign Affairs magazine in 1999, Professor Luttwak published a manifesto for a “neopragmatic” approach to resolving the Kosovo crisis, entitled “Give war a chance”, literally “give war a chance”, in literate Russian - “let there be war” .

“The unpleasant truth,” writes Luttwak, “is that although war is the greatest evil, it has one important positive quality: war can resolve political conflicts and lead to a stable peace. But this property can be realized either when the warring parties use up all their military and human reserves, or when one of the parties manages to win a decisive victory. “Alas, these days small countries are forced to agree to a cessation of hostilities... This leads to the fact that every time a war breaks out in a particular region, it is interrupted and thereby prevented from turning into lasting peace.” Further, the expressly anti-Serbian Professor Luttwak reflects on how much cheaper and more practical it would be for the United States not to get involved in Kosovo themselves, but to let the Albanians deal with this terrible “interventionist Serbian military” with Milosevic at its head.

Thus, we see that the ideological justification of the right to Kosovo using “reverse historicism”, characteristic of both Serbs and Albanians, simply does not work in a foreign policy context; Serbian and Albanian “historicisms,” when compared, devalue and make meaningless of each other. The logical way out of the “impasse of historicism” for Western diplomacy was the concepts of “instant history,” “pragmatism” (Albright) and “neo-pragmatism” (Luttwak). At the same time, for internal use (both among Serbs and Kosovo Albanians), “reverse historicism” continues to work, being to this day the strongest mobilization factor.

The root of the problem is that for Serbia, the “historicism” of the perception of Kosovo is nothing more than a materialistic, atheistic derivative of the sacred perception of Kosovo, which was characteristic of the Serbs until the middle of the 20th century. In socialist times, through the efforts of authors such as the writer and academician Dobrica Cosic, the perception of the holy land of Kosovo for the Serbs was “secularized”. The fact that Kosovo became the place where the Serbs found the Christian faith, the cradle of Christianity in Serbia and the seat of the primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church (from 1219 to 1766) is replaced in the secular version by the thesis about the “immense cultural significance” of Kosovo’s medieval churches and monasteries. They pay tribute to the Kosovo epic and the feat of the Serbian people in the Battle of Kosovo (1389), but are silent about the fact that for the medieval Serbian rulers the opposition to the “wicked Hagarians” was primarily of a religious nature. Serbia on the Kosovo field stood in the way of not just another aggressive invader, but in the way of a force that questioned the very existence of European culture, that is, Christian culture (where are those happy pre-liberal times when these concepts were identical!). The feat of the Serbian people on Kosovo is a religious act. Like the six-hundred-year history of Serbian martyrdom in Kosovo at the hands of the Turks and Albanians, this is, first of all, a history of suffering for the Orthodox faith. And, of course, it is no coincidence that the Serbian enlighteners of the 18th-19th centuries. Vuk Karadzic and Dmitrij (in monasticism Dosifej) Obradovic called Kosovo the Serbian Jerusalem.

The huge tragedy of the Slobodan Milosevic regime lies precisely in the fact that he himself, his associates and his wife Mira Markovic, who had enormous influence on Milosevic, being Serbian patriots, remained atheists.

And, therefore, they inevitably were hostages of “vulgar historicism”, unable to perceive and comprehend the sacred significance of Kosovo, its importance not only for Serbia, but also for Christianity as a whole. This is all the more unfortunate because during the reign of Milosevic, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church was His Holiness Patriarch Pavel (Stojcevic). Patriarch Paul was an amazing example of a truly Christian life, humility and asceticism, love and forgiveness, and at the same time - a consistent struggle to preserve Kosovo in the bosom of the Orthodox Church.

While still the bishop of Rasko-Prizren, Bishop Pavel did everything in his power to preserve Christianity in Kosovo, and was not even afraid to enter into direct polemics with Tito’s atheistic regime. Not long ago, Serbia published his correspondence with the Yugoslav authorities and Patriarch Herman regarding the situation of Orthodox believers and the Christian Church in Kosovo. This is a striking chronicle of the consistent destruction by the Albanians of Orthodox shrines and the Christian way of life of the Serbs in Kosovo, with the connivance of the civil authorities, including the ethnic Serb communists. “The people here are like sheep without a shepherd, left to their own devices, so it is not surprising that people are stunned and shaken in their faith under the onslaught of all possible troubles that hit them hard. Basically, I would encourage them to preserve the most important thing - their soul and the honor of their people, the common good that we inherited from our holy ancestors...” writes Bishop Paul about the situation in Kosovo in the 60s. From the letters of the future patriarch, the primacy of the religious component in the tragedy of the Serbs in Kosovo becomes absolutely obvious - the preservation of the Orthodox faith was not only the main core of Serbian life in this region, but also the goal and meaning of the very return of these lands to the Serbian state in 1912. Having begun the persecution of Orthodoxy, the Tito regime has rendered meaningless and drained the idea of ​​a Serbian Kosovo. Having lost contact with their parochias, and with church life in general, the Serbs began to move en masse from the interior of Kosovo and Metohija to the industrialized north of the region, abandoning the shrines, washed in the blood of their fathers and grandfathers, to the mercy of fate. Thus, the real tragedy of the Kosovo Serbs, which predetermined the expulsion of the Serbs from the region and, ultimately, its separation from Serbia, was the refusal of the local population from the Christian faith. Failure to understand this fact, in turn, predetermined the ineffectiveness of Milosevic's Kosovo policy.

Let us, however, be fair to the Serbian leader who was tortured in the Hague Tribunal. The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999 forced him to significantly reconsider his picture of the world.

In September 1999, an extremely large-scale exhibition “Crucified Kosovo” was held in Belgrade under the patronage of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and then a book of the same name was published, money for the printing of which was allocated from Milosevic’s personal funds. It is this book that for the first time ties together all the suffering that the Serbian people endured in Kosovo, from Turkish enslavers to NATO bombs, and puts them in a religious, sacred context. The idea of ​​the sacred, and not purely historical, significance of Kosovo for Serbia (and all Christianity) was developed during the reign of Vojislav Kostunica, who declared himself a Serbian nationalist and, unlike Milosevic, was not bound by the dogmas of communist ideology.

In the context of a departure from “vulgar historicism”, a return from teleology to theology, if you like, the activity of Bishop Jovan (Chulibrka), Bishop of Lipljalna in 2011-2014, and since 2014 – Bishop of Slavonia, is fundamentally important. The experience of Bishop Jovan proves that the sacred perception of Kosovo can be understood and accepted not only by Serbs, but in principle by any believers, and not necessarily even Christians. Bishop Jovan defended his doctoral dissertation in Israel, at the Yad Vashem memorial center, it was dedicated to the genocide of the Serbs during the Second World War by the Croatian Ustasha. As the bishop says, few people in Israel, including scientists, knew about the atrocities of the Ustasha during the Second World War, despite the fact that several tens of thousands of local Jews also became victims of the Croatian fascists. For a number of publications on this topic in Israeli scientific publications, as well as scientific conferences held in Serbia and Israel, the Serbian ruler was awarded the Golda Meir Prize.

“And then I set my sights on a goal that initially seemed unattainable to me,” recalls Bishop Jovan. “If I could win over the Israelis towards the Serbs by drawing a parallel between the suffering of Serbs and Jews in World War II, then why not try to explain to them what Kosovo is for the Serbs. This is not just some territory, this is our Holy Land.” Bishop Jovan’s idea turned out to be more than successful. In 2012, the Peć Patriarchate, the main center of Orthodoxy in Kosovo, hosted an international conference “The Balkans and the Middle East: common features and characteristics,” in which Serbian, Israeli and European scientists participated. The main goal of the conference is to show that neither the conflict in Kosovo nor the conflicts in the Middle East can not only be resolved, but also at least to some extent minimized if we take out the factor of the special, sacred significance of Kosovo (for the Serbs, Orthodoxy, Christianity in general ) and the Holy Land (for three world religions).

“Without understanding the sacred significance of these territories, the rather insignificant effect of the negotiations in Rambouillet and the agreements signed in Oslo becomes even more insignificant and doubtful, and the future becomes unpredictable...” - Bishop Jovan concludes his speech.

Other conference participants, such as Jerusalem University professor Martin van Creveld, echo this assessment.

The example of Bishop Jovan proves that a return to the sacred perception of the Kosovo conflict is not a step back, as some liberal publicists claim, but a step forward. This, among other things, is an opportunity to convey the essence of the events taking place in Kosovo to a significant number of people who have not lost faith, but are besotted and duped by Western ahistorical propaganda.

Special for the Centenary

On February 19, Kosovo celebrates another anniversary of independence, which is recognized by only half of the world's states. The parliament of the republic announced separation from Serbia on February 17, 2008. Disputes about the legality of this decision continue to this day. Alexey Durnov explains why the question of the tiny republic's independence has split the world in half.

How it all began

Recognition of Kosovo's independence was fiercely and consistently sought by one of the most influential politicians in the region, Hashim Thaci. At one time, he was a field commander and one of the founders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. This movement, in the first years of its existence, was considered a terrorist organization, so in 1997, a Pristina court sentenced Thaci in absentia to 10 years in prison.

The key figure is Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci

But it was never possible to detain him, and by 1999 many states began to consider the KLA a liberation movement, and not at all a terrorist movement. Somewhat later, Thaci will be detained by the Hungarian authorities on the basis of an international arrest warrant, but will spend less than a day in custody. And the former prosecutor general of the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla del Ponte, in her memoirs will accuse Thaci of kidnapping and trafficking in human organs. All this, however, will turn out to be grains of sand in a vast desert.

Hashim Thaci

In 2000, Thaci was already heavily involved in politics, and the Democratic Party of Kosovo, which he created, became increasingly popular. She was repeatedly elected to the Kosovo parliament, so in January 2008 Thaci became prime minister. Its success was facilitated by loud statements that Kosovo should gain independence from Serbia. He will achieve his goal in less than a month.

How Kosovo gained independence

On February 17, the Kosovo parliament unilaterally adopted a declaration of independence. It is believed that the writing of its text took about forty minutes, and the preparation for the process of separation from Serbia lasted approximately two weeks. Hashim Thaci did not hide the fact that the bet was on early international support for independence and made it clear that Kosovo was not interested in Belgrade’s opinion on this issue. The resolution was supported by 109 parliament members. At the same time, opponents of independence, including 10 representatives of the Kosovo Serbs, were not present at the meeting at all.

Recognition of Kosovo's independence created a dangerous precedent

As soon as the voting was over, Thaci announced that Kosovo was now an independent state. Russia, which is the most ardent opponent of Kosovo's secession from Serbia, demanded the immediate convening of the UN Security Council. However, even before its meeting took place, a number of states announced that they recognized the republic as an independent subject of international law.

What's the problem?

Gaining independence through a resolution of one's own parliament went against accepted practice and a number of UN provisions. In any case, this has never happened before. In the 21st century, states gained independence either based on the results of a referendum (East Timor, Montenegro, South Sudan) or through a series of bilateral agreements (Curacao). At the same time, referendums were prepared over many years; their preparation was preceded by complex negotiations, and the conditional metropolis agreed to recognize the results of the vote. In the case of Kosovo, there was no talk of a referendum. Unilateral recognition of independence created a dangerous precedent. The secession of Kosovo was negatively perceived by countries that have problems similar to Serbia. Russian diplomats then basically said that if the Kosovo Albanians can do it, then why not, for example, the Abkhazians. Less than six months later, this issue became very acute.

Events of February 2008

The declaration of Kosovo's independence was accompanied by dozens of rallies throughout Europe. The shares were of a completely different nature. In some places it was a celebration of independence, in others there were violent protests against it. Both some and other rallies with equal frequency ended in riots. Thus, spontaneous celebrations took place in those countries where there were numerous diasporas of Kosovo Albanians. Primarily in Belgium and Switzerland. On the other hand, in a number of Balkan states, street conflicts arose between local Serbs and Albanians. The most tense situation has developed in Belgrade. Already on February 17, 200 protesters tried to storm the US Embassy.

Rally on February 21, 2008 in Belgard. One of the largest protests against the independence of Kosovo.

The police managed to drive them away, but the matter did not end there. The dissatisfied regrouped and attacked the Slovenian Embassy, ​​as well as the largest Belgrade McDonald's. The next day, Kosovo Serbs set fire to NATO border checkpoints, and a little later, the Supreme Court building in Pristina was captured. Protests took place all over the world, including in the United States. So in Chicago, nearly a thousand people took part in the rally. The geography of rallies in support of Kosovo was equally wide. Similar actions took place, for example, in Australia, South Africa and Japan.

How Kosovo's independence was recognized

By the beginning of March 2008, the independence of Kosovo was recognized by the 21st state. The USA, Great Britain, France and Germany were in the forefront, but Afghanistan and Costa Rica managed to get ahead of them. These countries recognized Kosovo's independence just hours after the fateful parliamentary resolution.

Now the independence of Kosovo is recognized by slightly more than half of the states

They did this almost simultaneously, but due to the time difference, Costa Rica is considered the first state to recognize Kosovo. The last place was Antigua and Barbuda. The tiny country in the Caribbean recognized Kosovo's independence in May 2015. By the way, Serbia at first practiced the immediate recall of ambassadors from countries that supported Hashim Thaci.

Countries that recognize Kosovo are highlighted in green. Gray - countries that did not do this

True, diplomatic missions were not closed everywhere. On the other hand, many subjects of international law have taken a very cunning neutral position. For example, China promised several times to consider recognizing Kosovo, but each time postponed the decision indefinitely. As for those who have not recognized Kosovo’s independence, they include not only Russia, Nicaragua, Nauru and Venezuela. Thus, the independence of Kosovo is categorically denied by Israel and Spain. The Iberian kingdom has emphasized many times that on February 17, 2008, a dangerous precedent was created for the Basque and Catalan separatists. The Vatican did not recognize the independence of Kosovo either. It is worth mentioning separately about international organizations. Thus, the position of China and Russia leaves no chance for Kosovo to become a full member of the UN.

The Kosovo national team is currently playing friendly matches with Albania and Monaco

The Republic simply will not be able to receive the support of all five permanent members of the Security Council. Sports organizations are also in no hurry to make decisions. Kosovo is still not a member of either FIFA or UEFA. Although members of UEFA are, for example, Crimea and Gibraltar. The essence of the problem lies in the organization of the process. So, if the national team ends up in the same group, for example, with Romania, then Kosovo football players simply will not be able to come to the away match.

Shadow Hero

Martti Ahtisaari receives the Nobel Peace Prize

Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari is considered an important figure in recognizing Kosovo's independence. It is he who is prescribed the authorship of the plan to separate the republic from Serbia. Moreover. It is believed that Ahtisaari personally took part in dozens of negotiations in which he convinced the states of Europe, Asia and Africa to support the initiatives of Hashim Thaci. In 2008, Ahtisaari received the Nobel Peace Prize, which caused indignation in Belgrade and Moscow.

Kosovo is a republic of South-Eastern Europe, partially recognized by other states. Located in Europe, in the geographical region of the same name. Constitutionally, this region belongs to Serbia, but the population of Kosovo is not subject to their laws. The capital of the republic is Pristina.

The population, according to the 2011 census, is more than 1.7 million people. Mostly Serbs and Albanians live here, and only about 3-5% are other nationalities.

Title and history

The very name of the republic translates as “land of blackbirds.”

The history of the local population living on these lands began 2 thousand years ago. The Illyrians were the first to live here. In the 6th century, Slavic peoples settled. In the 9th century, Christianity was adopted in the territory. Gradually this region became the cultural and religious center of the Serbian state. It was here that the largest majestic cathedrals and temples were built. However, in the 15th century, after prolonged military skirmishes, this territory ceded to the Ottoman Empire.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Serbian Principality was formed on European lands, which strengthened its political positions and conquered Kosovo from the Turks.

In 1945, the federal state of Yugoslavia was formed in the south of Eastern Europe. Kosovo (republic) stood out as an autonomous region within Serbia. In the 90s, this territory experienced a Civil War. In 1989, a referendum was held, which marked the secession of autonomy from Serbia. However, it was only Albania. Military skirmishes and conflicts began in the country. As a result, many local residents died, and even more were left homeless. The unrest continued for several years until 1999 when NATO bombed military bases. Since this year, the republic has been under special control and trusteeship of the UN. In 2008, it declared independence from Serbia, but only unilaterally. The latter did not accept this resolution.

Geography of the region

The state of Kosovo is located on a flat area, shaped like a rectangle. The area of ​​the region is just over 10 thousand km 2. The average height is 500 m above sea level, the highest peak is Jaravitsa, located in the Prokletije mountain system, on the border with Albania. Its height is 2,656 m. The climate of the republic has a pronounced continental type: with cold winters and hot summers. Average winter temperatures are -10...-12° C, summer - +28°...+30° C. Large rivers in Kosovo: Sitnica, Ibar, South Moravia, White Drin.

Administrative-territorial structure of the republic

Administratively, Kosovo is a republic, divided into 7 districts: Kosovo-Mitrovica, Pristina, Gnjilan, Djakovica, Pec, Urosevac, Prizren. They, in turn, are divided into municipalities. There are 30 of them in total. The municipalities of Zvecan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok, located in the northern region of the republic and inhabited by Serbs, are not subordinate to the Kosovo authorities and do not recognize independence. In fact, this territory has its own government, which is concentrated in the city of Kosovsk-Mitrovica. The Kosovo authorities have introduced a bill to create a separate autonomous municipality on these lands. In addition to the northern region, Serbs live in smaller numbers in other municipalities of Kosovo. So-called enclaves, independent autonomous regions, have been created there.

Development

Currently, according to the Constitution adopted in 2008, Kosovo is a unitary and parliamentary republic. The head of state is considered to be the president, whose elections fall on the shoulders of parliament. The executive power in the republic is led by the Prime Minister.

Transport in Kosovo - road and rail. Medicine in the republic is free, but without insurance policies. A doctor's education can only be obtained in the capital - the University Clinical Center.

The city of Pristina (Kosovo) has a population of 200 thousand people and is the largest city in the republic. Another large center is Prizren, with a population of just over 100 thousand people.

Primary-level education is developed; there are 1,200 educational institutions of junior and secondary level in the republic. However, there is a big problem with the distribution and certification of teachers.

In terms of the cultural development of the state, only memories remain of the former religious center. During the hostilities, most of the country's Orthodox monuments were desecrated and destroyed.

Economy of Kosovo

Kosovo is a country that is currently considered one of the poorest in Europe. The state has occupied this position since the time it was part of Serbia, and after leaving it it worsened even more. Mass unemployment, low standard of living, minimum wages - all this has plagued Kosovo for many years, despite the country's great economic potential.

Domestic and foreign policy

The population of Kosovo is characterized by the following feature: the majority of the working population, not having the opportunity to earn money in their own country, settles abroad unofficially, sending their children and parents the means to subsist. According to statistics, out of 1,700 thousand people, 800 thousand are currently outside the country.

Large deposits of minerals such as magnesite, lead, nickel, cobalt, bauxite, and zinc are concentrated in Kosovo. The republic ranks 5th in the world in terms of brown coal reserves. Kosovo has a huge international external debt, part of which was paid by Serbia until 2008.

As a result of separation from Serbia, Kosovo admitted the German currency, the German mark, into the state, and then, together with European countries, switched to the euro. Serbian money remained in the northern region - dinars.

Problems

Kosovo's status is unclear and raises some concerns, which is why investors are not being attracted to the country. This reason leads to the emergence of shadow business in the republic. The main exports from the country are tobacco, cement and gasoline. The drug trade is also thriving in Kosovo. The UN estimates that more than 80% of illicit drugs from Kosovo cross the border into Europe.

Population

The population of Kosovo is 1 million 700 thousand people. In terms of ethnic composition, it is located in the following percentage ratio: 90% are Albanians, 6% are Serbs, 3% are Gypsies and 1% are other nationalities: Turks, Bosnians, Ashkali, Gorani. Albanians are the vast majority of Kosovo's population. The official languages ​​of the republic are Albanian and Serbian. Albanian is based on the Latin alphabet, while Serbian is based on the Cyrillic alphabet.

Tourism

Quite a large number of people from neighboring countries come to see the local attractions. And for good reason. This territory is rich in stunning places and will not leave anyone indifferent. You should fully plan your time and set a clear schedule in order to achieve maximum attendance at interesting places. The people here are hospitable and will always help - you just need to ask for help. You definitely need to learn English well so as not to get into the awkward situation of not knowing the local language.

Currently, peace has established on the territory of the republic, there are no longer military conflicts, so the country is slowly beginning to restore the cities and, of course, the economy. The most difficult thing remains that Kosovo as a separate state is still not recognized by everyone, which significantly hinders its development.

On June 15, 1389, the Serbian army led by Prince Lazar Khrebelianovich took the battle with the Ottoman army Sultan Murad I on Kosovo field. In that bloody battle, the best Serbian warriors died, who, even at the cost of their lives, could not prevent the onset of the Ottoman yoke, which lasted for five centuries.

Kosovo is not the geographical, but the historical heart of Serbia, the spiritual center of Serbian Orthodoxy. Today this heart was torn out from the chests of the Serbs.

“The Great Migration”: how it all began

The tragedy that the Serbian people are now experiencing was predetermined by a whole chain of historical events.

At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, the Serbs, trying to throw off the chains of Ottoman rule, decided to rely on the Habsburg monarchy. Defeat in the fight against the Ottoman Empire forced the Serbs to leave their native lands under fear of mass extermination.

This process, known in history as the “Great Serbian Migration”, led to the fact that such historical regions as Raska, Kosovo and Metohija lost the majority of their historical population. In order to consolidate this situation, the authorities of the Ottoman Empire resettled Muslim Albanians to the southern regions of Serbia, acting in accordance with the ancient principle of “divide and rule.”

By the time Serbia gained independence in the 19th century, the problem of relations between Serbs and Albanians was already in full swing. Peaceful coexistence did not work out - Serbia, which gained control over the lands of Kosovo at the beginning of the 20th century, encouraged the resettlement of Serbian peasants to the region, trying to change the demographic situation in its favor. These attempts met fierce resistance from the Albanians, who did not disdain methods of terror against the Serbian population.

Autonomous Province of Kosovo

External factors also played a big role. For example, during the Second World War, Italy included most of the territory of Kosovo into its protectorate called the “Albanian Kingdom”. Albanian armed groups, with the full approval of Italy, launched a campaign of terror in the region against the Serbian population, the ultimate goal of which was the complete expulsion of the Serbs. From 10 to 40 thousand Serbs became victims of the genocide during the Second World War in Kosovo, about 100 thousand became refugees. At the same time, the resettlement of Albanians into the region continued.

After the end of the war, according to the Yugoslav Constitution of 1946, the autonomous region of Kosovo and Metohija was formed as part of the Socialist Republic of Serbia. In November 1968 it was transformed into the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo.

Yugoslavia by the 1970s had become one of the most successful European countries, which, despite its socialist orientation, maintained mutually beneficial relations with the West.

But Kosovo remained a big headache for Belgrade. In the second half of the 1970s, the region received more subsidies from the center than, for example, the union republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro. The Albanian population of Kosovo continued to increase due to the influx from Albania itself, where living conditions were much worse. But the arriving Albanians were guided not by Belgrade, but by the leader of Albania, Enver Hoxha, and dreamed of creating a “Greater Albania”.

Everything rested on Tito

Powerful Yugoslav figure leader Josip Broz Tito, cementing the country as a whole, did not allow the ethnic conflict to flare up in Kosovo.

But the situation continued to get worse. If, according to 1948 data, about 500 thousand Albanians lived in Kosovo against 172 thousand Serbs, then by 1981 there were more than 1.225 million Albanians, while Serbs - 0.209 million.

Proletarian internationalism restrained the interethnic conflict as best it could, but the efforts of the radicals were not in vain.

On May 4, 1980, Tito died - perhaps the only person who today enjoys the same respect among people throughout the former Yugoslavia. No one could replace Tito. The outbreak in Kosovo was a matter of time.

Fadil Hoxha, one of the Kosovo Albanian leaders, during the Second World War he was not just an ally of Tito. He headed the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia in Kosovo and Metohija. In the post-war years, Hoxha was the head of government of the region, was a member of the Presidium of the SFRY as a representative of the autonomous province of Kosovo, and even served as vice-president of Yugoslavia. All this did not stop him from openly discussing the need to unite Albanians in Kosovo and Albania in one state.

In a situation where even the Albanian elite of Kosovo pursued a nationalist and separatist line, the radicals were ready to take up arms.

Bloody spring 1981

On March 11, 1981, in the capital of Kosovo, Pristina, spontaneous protests took place among students dissatisfied with the living conditions in the dormitory and canteen.

The unauthorized demonstration was stopped by the police, which, in turn, caused outrage among citizens.

At first, as usual, the slogans were harmless - “For freedom and equality,” “For a better life,” “Long live Marxism-Leninism, down with revisionism.” But soon calls began to be heard for unification with Albania, for the expulsion of the Serbs from the region.

Following this, pogroms of Serbian houses began throughout Kosovo. On March 16, 1981, Albanians set fire to an Orthodox monastery, which made the conflict not only national, but also religious.

It was not possible to stop the pogroms for three weeks. Thousands of Serbs fled the region in fear. The Yugoslav leadership received a report from the security services: the situation is critical, the police cannot stop the unrest, and a complete loss of control over Kosovo is possible.

At the beginning of April 1981, the forces of the Yugoslav People's Army were deployed to suppress the unrest. Only thanks to this was it possible to suppress the unrest.

The number of victims of the 1981 confrontation is still unknown. According to official data, 5 law enforcement officers and about a dozen protesters were killed. According to some historians, the total number of deaths can be measured in tens and even hundreds.

Smoldering fire

The conflict was extinguished, but could not be resolved. Moreover, the general Yugoslav crisis further aggravated the problem.

New in 1987 Head of the Central Committee of the Union of Communists of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic raised slogans in defense of the rights of the Serbian population of Kosovo. In March 1989, in an effort to strengthen central power, Milosevic achieved drastic restrictions on the rights that had been granted to Kosovo's autonomy under Tito. This caused new unrest, which escalated into street clashes that claimed the lives of more than two dozen people.

The bloody collapse of Yugoslavia left the Kosovo problem in the shadows for some time. But the situation there continued to worsen. Emissaries of radical terrorist groups began to actively work among Muslim Albanians. The newly minted militants underwent initial training and acquired combat experience in neighboring republics where the war was raging. Weapons came to Kosovo both from neighboring Albania, where there was never a shortage of them, and from other countries.

Yugoslav "Chechnya"

From the beginning of the 1990s, the creation of gangs began in Kosovo, operating both against the Yugoslav security forces and against the civilian Serbian population.

By the mid-1990s, Yugoslav security forces were forced to wage a de facto war against Albanian terrorists. It was not possible to completely defeat the terrorist underground, since this required the involvement of very serious military forces. The Yugoslav authorities, already under Western sanctions, did not want to aggravate the situation, knowing full well what the reaction of the world community would be.

As a result, by the beginning of 1998, an association of armed terrorist groups was formed, which was called the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). On February 28, 1998, the KLA officially announced the beginning of the armed struggle for the independence of Kosovo. Militants attacked police stations and government premises.

On March 5, 1998, the Special Anti-Terrorist Group of Yugoslavia in the town of Prekaz managed to destroy more than 30 KLA militants, including brothers Adem and Hamez Yashari, founders of the terrorist group. The international community, however, accused the Yugoslav authorities of reprisals against civilians.

The Kosovo war is a vivid example of the policy of “double standards”. Not noticing the terrorist attacks and crimes committed by the KLA, representatives of the United States and European Union countries blamed official Belgrade for everything. The more effective the Yugoslav military’s attacks on the terrorist infrastructure were, the harsher the threats against the Serbs sounded.

NATO bombs solve everything

By the beginning of 1999, it became clear that, despite the supply of weapons and the assistance of foreign instructors, the KLA could not successfully resist the actions of the Yugoslav security forces. Then the NATO countries presented an ultimatum to Belgrade - accusing the Serbs of carrying out ethnic cleansing, they demanded the complete withdrawal of the army from the territory of Kosovo under the threat of military intervention.

In fact, the talk was about the separation of Kosovo from Yugoslavia. President Slobodan Milosevic refused to take this step.

By the end of March 1999, units of the Yugoslav army drove the terrorists into the mountainous and wooded areas of the region. March 24, 1999 NATO Secretary General Javier Solana, saving the militants from defeat, he gave the order to the commander of NATO forces in Europe, American General Wesley Clark, to launch a military operation against Yugoslavia.

For the first time since World War II, aerial bombs rained down on European cities.

Almost three months of bombing aimed at destroying the country's infrastructure yielded results - on June 9, 1999, an agreement was concluded on the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from the territory of Kosovo and transferring it under the control of KFOR forces.

The end of Serbian Kosovo

The end of the war was the de facto end of the history of Serbian Kosovo. Together with the Yugoslav military, about 200 thousand Serbs and representatives of other ethnic minorities left the region.

The current Serbian diaspora, which makes up about 5-6 percent of Kosovo's population, is concentrated in the northern regions of the province, directly bordering Serbian territory.

In Kosovo, from the moment it came under international control, there has been a systematic destruction of everything that reminds of the Serbian past of the region. There are dozens of destroyed Orthodox churches; former Serbian villages are populated by Albanians or fall into complete desolation.

In 2008, the Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence. Her current President Hashim Thaci- one of the field commanders of the KLA, whom former prosecutor of the UN International Tribunal Carla del Ponte accused of trafficking in organs removed from living people. Current Prime Minister of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj was accused by the Hague Tribunal of mass murder of Serbs, but was acquitted after witnesses to his crimes began to die or refuse to testify.

The process, once begun by the punitive forces of the Ottoman Sultan, was successfully completed under the slogans of preserving democratic values.