Serbia glorifies the Pristina Corps while remaining silent on war crimes in Kosovo

Serbia is continuing its propaganda campaign against the Kosovo Liberation Army through films and documentaries that praise the Serbian army while sidelining war crimes in Kosovo. The latest documentary promoted by the Ministry of Defence in Belgrade is devoted to “The Pristina Corps: The Homeland Commands Us,” a Serbian military formation, two of whose commanders have been convicted of war crimes by the Hague Tribunal.

The film premiered in Niš in the presence of senior Serbian officials and the corps’ former commander, Vlladimir Llazareviq, who was convicted of war crimes committed in Kosovo.

Serbian authorities have presented the production as a story of the heroism and sacrifice of soldiers. During the event, Serbia’s Minister of Defence, Bratislav Gashiq, attacked the Kosovo Liberation Army, calling it a terrorist organization.

Security experts in Kosovo view this approach as part of Belgrade’s ongoing efforts to distort the history of the war and portray the activities of a criminal military structure as heroic, even though its leaders have been found guilty of war crimes.

“This shows the hypocrisy of Serbian politics, but also the propaganda through which they have managed, to some extent, to convince part of the public, especially with the establishment of the Specialist Chambers, as well as through falsified and fabricated evidence. They are now trying to incite their own public over the powerful war they waged in Kosovo, but with a melancholic conclusion, since they did not succeed,” Nuredin Ibishi, a security affairs expert, told RTK.

The “Octopus” Institute for Hybrid War Studies also links the promotion of these nationalist narratives to Serbia’s political orientation. According to the institute, Belgrade aims to benefit from the West while deepening its rapprochement with Russia.

“The nationalist discourse in Serbia must receive a clear and firm response from the West, particularly from Brussels, because Serbia will try, as it has done so far, to maintain its dual position of benefiting by receiving funds from the West while increasingly aligning itself with Russia,” said Arben Fetoshi of the “Octopus” Institute.

The documentary, produced by the military film center “Zastava Film,” addresses the so-called “Pristina Corps” solely from the perspective of the Serbian army. It makes no mention of the crimes and massacres committed by Serbian forces against civilians in Kosovo. Another documentary produced earlier in Serbia about the war in Koshare was also criticized for distorting history in line with Belgrade’s objectives.