MFA Kosova 🇽🇰

Kosova and Switzerland share a special friendship, rooted in the enduring bonds our diaspora has forged between our peoples. In this spirit, today I welcomed to Kosova for a friendly meeting my colleague and counterpart, 🇨🇭Federal Councillor and FM @ignaziocassis. Our discussions focused on 🇽🇰’s EU integration and ways to deepen 🇽🇰🇨🇭 economic cooperation, building on the close ties our diaspora has established between our societies. Together, we also inaugurated the Swiss Embassy’s new premises in Kosova, a further symbol of our deep bond and shared commitment to strengthening it. Many thanks to @SwissMFA for its longstanding friendship and support. We look forward to continuing our work together to create greater opportunities for our citizens.

Brief pull-aside with Norwegian FM @EspenBarthEide at the margins of @WarsawForum. We exchanged views on the Republic of Kosova’s EU integration, security in the Western Balkans and further strengthening 🇽🇰–🇳🇴 relations.

Firmly anchoring the Western Balkans in the EU is essential to our shared security. At @WarsawForum, I had a warm and substantive exchange with Estonian FM @Tsahkna on advancing the Republic of Kosova’s EU integration and addressing the security challenges facing our country and the region, including those linked to Serbia and Russia’s growing use of hybrid tactics. We also explored ways to further deepen the already strong relations and cooperation between 🇽🇰 and 🇪🇪.

Serbia’s renewed territorial ambitions against the Republic of Kosova were laid bare once again this week when its Deputy PM, Ivica Dacic, declared at an election rally that the Serbian flag would “sooner or later fly over Prizren”, a city in southern Kosova. Such rhetoric reveals that Belgrade’s territorial ambitions are far from a thing of the past. Just two days later, Milan Radoicic, wanted by Interpol over the Banjska terrorist attack he organized, appeared alongside Danilo Vucic at Aleksandar Vucic’s party rally in Kragujevac, where Vucic once again threatened the independence of the Republic of Kosova. These are not isolated provocations. They expose the continuity of a dangerous political doctrine: territorial expansionism in rhetoric, and impunity for armed aggression in practice. Serbia cannot claim to pursue peace and European integration while its senior officials openly challenge the sovereignty of the Republic of Kosova and the admitted organizer of the deadly Banjska terrorist attack remains at liberty, appearing publicly alongside the president’s family instead of facing justice. The international community must unequivocally condemn these actions and demand accountability. The sovereignty of the Republic of Kosova is not negotiable, and neither is justice for the Banjska terrorist attack.

A constructive exchange with 🇬🇲 FM Sering Modou Njie. We discussed ways to broaden cooperation between the Republic of Kosova and The Gambia, strengthen political dialogue, and work more closely in international forums. We appreciate 🇬🇲’s longstanding support for 🇽🇰 and look forward to bringing new momentum to our relations. @GambiaMoFA

More than a thousand kilometers separate Kosova from Gaza, but responsibility for peace and security does not stop at borders. At today’s high-level @BoardOfPeace briefing, 🇽🇰 stood among the countries supporting the International Stabilization Force for Gaza. 27 years after NATO’s intervention, 🇽🇰 is a success story: once a country in need of international support, today we contribute to global peace and security. The Republic of Kosova stands ready to do its part.

At today’s U.S.-Adriatic Charter (A5) meeting, I thanked 🇭🇷 FM @grlicradman for Croatia’s chairmanship and called for a stronger A5 built on resilience, solidarity and accountability, with the Republic of Kosova as a full member. In my intervention, I pointed to two concrete examples of why these principles matter for Kosova and for our region. Tomorrow marks three years since the terrorist attack in Banjska, where Kosova Police Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku was killed. The criminals who carried out this attack remain free in Serbia. Banjska shows why accountability matters. The 2024 attack on the Ibër-Lepenc canal, vital to 🇽🇰’s water and energy system, shows why resilience matters and why critical infrastructure must be protected from sabotage, cyber and hybrid threats. Kosova confronted both attacks and prevailed. These are not abstract risks for us. We face them directly, and we are ready to contribute directly to the regional response. Full A5 membership would allow Kosova to do exactly that. The time has come for the A5 to become the A6.

During the High-Level Week of #UNGA81 in New York, I met with 🇳🇱 FM Tom Berendsen (@ministerBZ). A central part of our discussion was the recent first-instance judgment against the four KLA leaders, Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi. I conveyed the profound dissatisfaction in Kosova over the judgment and the severe sentences imposed, and underlined our position that this represents a serious injustice that must be addressed through the appeals process. We also discussed bilateral relations and other issues of shared interest.

On the margins of #UNGA81 in NY, I met with 🇩🇯 FM Abdoulkader Houssein Omar. We discussed strengthening relations between the Republic of Kosova and Djibouti, expanding practical cooperation, and closer coordination in multilateral fora. We value the longstanding 🇽🇰🇩🇯 partnership and look forward to deepening it further. @MAECIDJIBOUTI

Delighted to have had a substantive meeting with H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan (@ABZayed), DPM & FM of 🇦🇪. We discussed further strengthening relations between the Republic of Kosova and the United Arab Emirates, with a focus on economic cooperation, investment and development, as well as regional and international developments. 🇦🇪 has stood with 🇽🇰 from our earliest days, and we deeply value this longstanding friendship. We look forward to building on it and opening new avenues of cooperation. @mofauae #UNGA81

Joined PM @albinkurti for talks with 🇭🇷 PM @AndrejPlenkovic and FM @grlicradman during #UNGA81 High-Level Week. Our discussions focused on regional security, the Republic of Kosova’s Euro-Atlantic path, and further strengthening the close cooperation between our two countries. 🇭🇷 has consistently supported 🇽🇰 on our Euro-Atlantic path and remains a close friend and trusted partner. We look forward to continuing to strengthen this cooperation.

The security and resilience of the Western Balkans are inseparable from those of Europe. At today’s Friends of the Western Balkans meeting in New York, hosted by 🇮🇹 Deputy PM and FM @Antonio_Tajani, we discussed stronger connectivity, economic resilience and security cooperation as concrete steps toward deeper European integration. The Republic of Kosova is ready to contribute.

Honouring a convicted war criminal whose crimes were described by an international tribunal as “among the most heinous known to humankind” is an act of profound moral and political disgrace. The military honours accorded to Ratko Mladic, together with the participation of serving government ministers in paying tribute, are an act of institutional glorification of a man convicted of genocide. This is the choice Belgrade made today. That choice also speaks to a deeper political continuity. Serbia is led today by Aleksandar Vucic, who served as Minister of Information in the Milosevic regime. Decades later, the Serbian state continues to give legitimacy to figures and narratives rooted in the same politics of ethnic cleansing, territorial expansion and mass atrocities that devastated our region in the ’90s. Honouring Mladic through state institutions shows how much of that political legacy Serbia still refuses to confront. For the Republic of Kosova, this is not an abstract debate about history. Our people carry the memory of massacres, murdered civilians and children, mass expulsions and systematic violence carried out by Serbian state forces. We therefore unequivocally reject every attempt to transform judicially established crimes into matters of national interpretation, or convicted perpetrators into figures worthy of honour. Genocide does not acquire another meaning with the passage of time, and denial cannot erase the dignity of those who were murdered, persecuted and expelled. We stand with the Bosniak people, with the victims and survivors of Srebrenica, and with all families whose suffering can never be reconciled with the glorification of those responsible for it. There can be no genuine reconciliation without truth, and no credible European future built on honouring the perpetrators of crimes that shocked the conscience of humanity.

We take note with regret of President Zelenskyy’s remarks in Belgrade reaffirming Ukraine’s non-recognition of the Republic of Kosova. Since the first day of Russia’s full-scale aggression, Kosova has stood unequivocally with Ukraine. We condemned the invasion, fully aligned with CFSP, imposed sanctions against Russia and Belarus, provided humanitarian assistance and refuge for Ukrainian journalists, and contributed military assistance and training in support of Ukraine’s defence. We did so despite Ukraine’s non-recognition of our state, because solidarity with a people defending its freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity is a matter of principle. It is equally important to recall a clear distinction: while Kosova has imposed sanctions against Russia, Serbia has not aligned with the EU sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The Republic of Kosova is a sovereign and independent state, born from the struggle of its people for freedom and from their liberation in 1999 after years of systematic repression and the genocidal campaign of the Milosevic regime. What followed was not an act of annexation, occupation or territorial conquest, but a comprehensive international process under United Nations administration and years of internationally mediated negotiations on Kosova’s final status. When those negotiations had exhausted every possibility for an agreed settlement, UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari recommended independence as Kosova’s final status and presented a comprehensive framework for the new state, including some of the most extensive constitutional guarantees for non-majority communities in Europe. Kosova declared its independence on 17 February 2008 as the culmination of this political and historical process, assumed its responsibilities as a democratic and multiethnic state, and entered a period of internationally supervised independence. In 2010, the International Court of Justice confirmed that Kosova’s declaration of independence did not violate international law, while international supervision formally concluded in 2012. Today, the Republic of Kosova is recognized by the overwhelming majority of NATO and EU member states and has built its statehood firmly on the principles of democracy, human rights, peace and Euro-Atlantic integration. For precisely these reasons, Russia’s attempts to invoke Kosova as a precedent or justification for its invasion, occupation or attempted annexation of Ukrainian territory are historically and legally false. No such parallel exists. Kosova remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. At the same time, we respectfully but firmly reject any framing of the Republic of Kosova through the prism of Serbia’s territorial integrity. We would welcome Ukraine’s recognition of the Republic of Kosova. Such a decision would strengthen the very principles of freedom, democracy and international law that Ukraine itself is defending today.