WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Kosovo’s foreign minister said Wednesday that her country is convinced that Russia must lose the war in Ukraine to prevent the conflict from spreading further in Europe. She said her young country’s support for Ukraine was unconditional, even though Kiev had not recognized Kosovo’s independence.
Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz, who is both foreign minister and deputy prime minister, said her small Balkan state, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, was constantly reminded of the aggressive intentions of Serbia and its ally Russia.
“Ukraine has not recognized the Republic of Kosovo as a state, but we really believe we know exactly what Ukraine is going through,” she told the Associated Press in an interview.
“And we know that there is only one solution, not only for Ukraine but also for Europe,” she said. “It can only be that Russia loses the war and Ukraine wins this war.” Otherwise, Europe should prepare for further conflicts on our continent.”
Like Ukrainians today, the people of Kosovo were the targets of war crimes and other atrocities by Serbian security forces in the 1990s, an experience that led Kosovo to seek independence.
“Although Kosovo is a small state with very modest aid capabilities, we tried to be very helpful to Ukraine and did not hesitate to show our unconditional support and compassion to the people and state of Ukraine,” Gërvalla-Schwarz told AP.
The latest reminder that Moscow is threatening Kosovo came this week when a Russian Telegram channel called for a denial of service attack on Kosovo government websites after Kosovo’s defense minister announced new military aid at a conference in Warsaw on Tuesday announced for Ukraine.
Gërvalla-Schwarz inaugurated Kosovo’s first consular mission in Poland on Wednesday, part of efforts to improve economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries. Poland recognized Kosovo’s statehood in 2008, but the two countries did not establish diplomatic relations at that time. Currently the Kosovo mission has consulate general status, but it hopes this could be a step towards an embassy in Poland.
Their visit to Poland this week coincided with a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, during which he promised pledges to deepen ties.
Gërvalla-Schwarz said the Chinese leader’s visit had an impact on Europe because it showed that Serbia, although a candidate for EU membership, was “identifying itself more and more with the opponents of the European Western democracies.”
“In these times when Russia has declared war not only on Ukraine, but on the West as such, you cannot be a candidate for accession to the European Union and a representative of Russia at the same time,” she said.
Serbian forces fought a war with Albanian separatists in what was then the province of Kosovo from 1998 to 1999. About 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died until a 78-day NATO bombing campaign pushed out Serbian forces.
Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, but the government in Belgrade does not recognize its neighbor as an independent country.