Xhelal Sveçla, Kosovo’s acting minister of internal affairs, has expressed concern over the incident involving Nenad Rashković, accusing Aleksandar Vučić, the president of Serbia, of seeking to manipulate the issue to shift focus away from shocking discoveries in Kosovo, including three mass graves and a large quantity of weapons.

Sveçla described Vučić’s conduct as completely unacceptable, stressing that the case is being misused to diminish Serbia’s responsibility for its actions during the most recent conflict in Kosovo.

“I also want to highlight the absolutely unacceptable stance of President Vučić, who is seeking to use an accusation to minimize the actions of the Serbian state during the last war in Kosovo, as well as to divert attention from what we have discovered, which is truly horrific. In other words, we have discovered three mass graves and 71 long guns,” Sveçla said.

In an interview with Bota sot, analyst Eduard Gashi discussed the case of Nenad Rashković, allegations of brutality by Kosovo Police officers, and the reactions from Serbia and President Aleksandar Vučić, including how these events are being reflected on the international stage.

Gashi stressed that the issue should be addressed on two separate fronts, calling for a full and impartial investigation into the allegations of mistreatment while also drawing attention to the risk that Belgrade could exploit the situation politically.

“The issue should be examined on two different levels, which should not be conflated. First, Nenad Rashković’s allegations of mistreatment by members of the Kosovo Police require a full and independent investigation. The fact that the Police Inspectorate intervened and two police officers were suspended shows precisely how a democratic state should function. If violations occurred, those responsible must be held accountable. Kosovo has nothing to gain by downplaying an allegation of mistreatment; on the contrary, its strength lies in its ability to investigate itself,” he said.

However, he added that this does not rule out the possibility that Belgrade may instrumentalize the Rashković case politically. “Here, I believe Minister Sveçla has identified a real problem. Vučić has personalized this case to an extreme degree, while in the same area three sites containing the remains of at least 23 people and a considerable quantity of weapons have been found. These are realities that deserve far greater international attention,” he said.

Gashi does not automatically characterize every statement by Serbia as “disinformation,” but he acknowledges that Belgrade has an obvious political interest in shifting the international agenda away from war crimes, missing persons, and accountability by Serbian institutions, toward a narrative in which Serbs in Kosovo are portrayed as victims of systematic repression. “The Rashković case fits this communication strategy perfectly. In that sense, yes: there is a battle over narratives, and Vučić is trying to set the issue that dominates the discourse,” he added.

Regarding international media coverage of events in Kosovo, Gashi observed that there has not been complete silence, but rather a disproportion in the attention devoted to them. “We also need to be precise when discussing Western media. There has not been absolute silence: The Associated Press, for example, reported on the excavations and suspected mass graves. Nevertheless, it is fair to question the balance of attention. Eggs being thrown at Albin Kurti in the Assembly were immediately covered by Reuters, DW, and many other international media outlets, while the discovery of wartime human remains did not generate the same political and media resonance. This does not necessarily indicate a conspiracy against Kosovo, but it illustrates how the logic of international news often favors political spectacle over serious historical processes that require context,” he explained.

He stressed that the European Union should be much more consistent on this issue. “Kosovo and Serbia adopted the Declaration on Missing Persons, and in January of this year the first trilateral meeting of the Joint Commission on Missing Persons was held. This mechanism must not remain merely ceremonial. Serbia must provide genuine access to archives, information, suspected locations, and documentation that could help locate the missing. The EU already has the political means to demand this and should link European progress to concrete cooperation, not merely to statements,” he continued.

Discussing the exercise of sovereignty by Kosovo’s institutions and coordination with international partners, Gashi emphasized that the country’s security continues to depend heavily on KFOR, the United States, and its European allies.

“Kosovo has the right to insist that its territory be governed by the law, order, and institutions of the Republic. However, Kosovo is not in the same geopolitical position as a universally recognized state that is a member of the UN and NATO. Its security continues to rely heavily on KFOR, the United States, and its European partners. For this reason, the diplomatic cost of an uncoordinated action is much higher for Kosovo than for many other states,” he said.

He went on to explain that “this is where our paradox lies: we cannot ask the EU, NATO, and the United States to stand by us whenever Serbia threatens Kosovo’s security, while considering coordination with those same partners unnecessary when we do not like their advice.”

According to him, the same logic applies to the Ibar Bridge. “Kosovo should have the clear objective of making the bridge a normal bridge in a normal city, rather than an ethnic boundary within its territory. But the political question is not only ‘Do we have the right?’ but also ‘How do we exercise this right at the lowest strategic cost?’” he added.

Gashi stressed that lessons should also be learned from the Banjska case. “It is not accurate to say that there have been no consequences at all: three people were convicted by Kosovo’s justice system in April of this year. But the main problem remains the fact that many suspects, including Milan Radoičić, are in Serbia. The European Union itself has expressed regret that Serbia has not cooperated sufficiently in investigating and prosecuting those responsible for Banjska, the attacks on KFOR in Zvečan, and the explosion in the Zubin Potok canal,” he noted.

According to Gashi, Kosovo must strike a balance between protecting its sovereignty and coordinating with international allies. “In the international management of crises, there is another brutal reality: external actors are often more interested in preventing unrest than in determining at that moment who was morally right. If violence breaks out in the north tomorrow, the international news will be ‘unrest in northern Kosovo.’ The explanation of who provoked the situation, who was legally in the right, and who responded will come later—if it comes at all,” he warned.

Therefore, Kosovo must be both determined and intelligent: “it must not give up its sovereignty, but exercise it in a way that leaves Serbia diplomatically isolated, not Kosovo.”

In this specific case, Gashi argues that the EU and Western countries should demand Serbia’s full cooperation on missing persons and the investigation of war crimes, while Pristina should place renewed coordination with its allies at the center of its strategy.

“Because for Kosovo today, the question is not only: ‘Are we right?’ The decisive question is: ‘How do we turn our right into a political result without losing the allies we need to protect it?’ This is the difference between demonstrating sovereignty and building long-term state power,” Gashi concluded in his remarks to Bota sot.

The post The Rashković Case Serves Belgrade’s Agenda” – Gashi Explains How Vučić Is Trying to Divert Attention from War Crimes appeared first on Albeu.com.