Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has reiterated his claim that Kosovo is part of the Serbian state, reviving nationalist rhetoric that undermines efforts toward stability and reconciliation in the region.

He made the remarks at a graduation ceremony for a group of young military personnel, where he discussed security issues and strengthening Serbia’s military.

Vučić said he was aware of the nature of the pressures the young soldiers and political leaders would face. According to him, for Serbia, “there is nothing more sacred or important than the homeland.”

“Kosovo and Metohija is part of that homeland, both under the Constitution and according to God’s justice,” the Serbian president said, as reported by Danas.

Vučić’s position came just days after Minister for Family Welfare and Demography Snežana Paunović said that in 1998 she would have “ethnically cleansed” Kosovo.

The European portal European Democrats also reacted critically to these statements.

“Such remarks were widely condemned across Europe, yet no political consequences followed. Leadership is defined not only by the positions it takes, but also by the rhetoric it tolerates and legitimizes,” European Democrats wrote.

According to the portal, “The Western Balkans needs responsible leadership committed to dialogue, reconciliation and respect for international law. Its European future cannot be built on nationalist narratives, but on mutual trust, accountability and shared democratic values.”

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Avni Islami, a security analyst, has responded to the statement of what he calls the Office for Kosovo in the Serbian Government, accusing Belgrade of continuing efforts to relativize the crimes committed during the war in Kosovo.

In a Facebook post, Islami wrote that this so-called office commemorates Serbian civilians killed in the Rahovec area in 1999, but never mentions the Albanian civilians who were massacred by Serbia as a result of the genocidal campaign against Albanians that year.

He added that this statement comes just days after a minister of the Serbian Government openly declared that, had she been in power in 1998, she would have carried out ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo.

Islami stressed that in Serbia’s strategy, the main goal remains the relativization of crimes, ethnic cleansing, and the genocidal campaign carried out against Kosovo Albanians during the 1999 war and earlier. He recalled that although Serbia has a War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office and a War Crimes Department in the High Court in Belgrade, so far no person involved in these macabre crimes has been sentenced to serve time in Serbian prisons. According to him, this is another attempt by the Serbian regime to relativize the crimes that culminated in 1999.

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