As the search for mass graves continues in Kalludër, Zupç, potentially uncovering new evidence of Serbia’s crimes in Kosovo, officials in Belgrade are returning to their former rhetoric of threats and territorial claims.
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Serbia’s official rhetoric is becoming increasingly harsh. Aleksandar Vučić and Ana Brnabić continue to portray Kosovo as part of Serbia, Snezhana Paunović has spoken of the “ethnic cleansing” of Albanians, while Petar Petković has claimed that Serbs are being persecuted in Kosovo. Aleksandar Vulin, meanwhile, has described Kosovo as “Serbia’s Jerusalem.”
Even a Serbian member of the Serbian Parliament has acknowledged that Vučić’s party has never distanced itself from the criminal policies of the past, but has merely adapted them to its present-day style of governance.
According to professors and security experts, this rhetoric goes beyond political propaganda. They see it as part of a deliberately constructed narrative intended to provide political justification for Belgrade’s destabilizing projects.
Geopolitics professor Dorajet Imeri said ethnic cleansing cannot take place without killings, particularly mass killings, persecution, and the destruction of territory or settlements. According to him, Serbia has done all of these things: it has killed people, concealed evidence, and created mass graves to erase the traces of its crimes. For this reason, he said the current rhetoric is a continuation of what Serbia has claimed and done in the past.
Gurakuq Kuçi of the Octopus Institute said the aim is to incite as much hatred as possible toward Kosovo and to psychologically prepare and mobilize the Serbian people to act against it at a given moment. He said this was particularly evident in Vučić’s statement and Vulin’s latest interview, in which he said: “We are waiting for the elections in Serbia and to see what we will do against Kosovo.”
Other experts are calling on the international community to respond more forcefully to Serbia’s rhetoric.
Fatmir Çollaku, director of the Institute for Justice and Security Research, said a tougher approach was needed, accompanied by criticism and sanctions. He recalled that measures were imposed on Kosovo unfairly and despite it having done nothing, while Serbia, regardless of all its actions, continues to be treated indulgently in one way or another. According to Çollaku, the problem lies in the lack of a unified position from the European and broader international community.
Under these circumstances, experts warn that international silence or a weak response to Belgrade’s threatening rhetoric could normalize a narrative with direct consequences for regional stability.
