Another threatening message targeting Kosovo has emerged from Serbia, this time in the form of graffiti reading “When the army returns to Kosovo,” painted in Perućac, in the Bajina Bašta area. The inscription was painted in large letters and in the colors of the Serbian flag on a wall along the road to Mitrovac on Tara.

According to Serbian media, the graffiti appeared on August 9, the same day Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić issued threats against Kosovo involving one of its most strategic water resources, Ujman Lake, mentioning “changing the course of the Iber River.”

On Sunday, Vučić said Serbia was engaging construction and engineering experts to examine the possibility of diverting the course of the Iber, linking this to what he falsely described as the “mistreatment of the Serbian people.” “Since they are mistreating our people so much, let us see—we have various reasons for changing the course of the Iber, and then we will see what the Albanians will do and how they will behave,” Vučić said, attempting to present a distorted picture of the situation in Kosovo.

Graffiti bearing the message “When the army returns to Kosovo” is not new. For years, such messages have appeared in various locations across Serbia, including Belgrade. In 2023, they were painted on the fence surrounding the Serbian Army General Staff building and in several other parts of the Serbian capital. These inscriptions have also occasionally appeared in northern Kosovo.

Crvena Zvezda’s best-known supporters’ group has claimed responsibility for most of the graffiti, saying it financed the work itself, and added that the first example of this kind was created by Partizan supporters.

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According to Elezi, the position expressed by the minister should not be viewed as an isolated case, as it represents the strategy and true conduct of official Belgrade towards the Republic of Kosovo. He assessed that this rhetoric is used as a signal and an incitement for radical, criminal and terrorist groups operating in the north of the country.

The expert placed the statement in the context of recent developments, recalling that two days earlier Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić had publicly defended Milan Radoičić, the main person responsible for the terrorist attack in Banjska.

“We are seeing a kind of embrace by Serbian politicians of the terrorist groups that carried out the attack in the north. The minister’s statement deliberately provoked an international reaction, seeking to motivate parallel structures to destabilise Kosovo’s constitutional order,” Elezi said.

He added that Russia and Iran also have an interest behind this approach in opening new hotspots of tension in the Balkans. According to him, the aim is to divert the attention of the United States and its allies from other global crises.

Elezi also criticised the response of state institutions in Pristina, describing the management of the situation as insufficient. In his assessment, declaring the Serbian minister persona non grata or warning of criminal complaints remain superficial measures intended only for “political and media consumption”.

According to the security expert, the National Security Council should have been convened immediately to analyse the fluid situation and increase intelligence vigilance.

He also called for the preparation of files containing concrete evidence and for official documents to be sent to the Quint countries and international organisations, instead of making statements to the media.

Elezi further assessed that NATO should receive an official request to increase its presence, particularly at a time when a reduction in forces has been discussed.

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Snezhana Paunović, Serbia’s Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, will not be able to enter or transit through the territory of the Republic of Kosovo, as the ban against her is permanent.

This decision came after her statement that, ‘if she were in Slobodan Milošević’s place, she would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo in 1998’.

Paunović made the statement to the Serbian media outlet ‘Kurir’, on the very International Day of Commemoration of the Srebrenica Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Her words were strongly condemned in Kosovo by political representatives and institutions, which reacted to her language and stance. There were also strong reactions from the European Union and the Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos.

Paunović was born in Peja, Kosovo. According to official information from the ministry she heads in Serbia, she is a graduate economist.

She has been a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia since 1992. This political force, known as the party of Slobodan Milošević, the person responsible for massacres and wars in the Balkans, is currently led by Ivica Dačić.

Within this party, Paunović has held several important positions. For two terms, she served as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, as well as head of the parliamentary group of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).

Since 2017, she has been a member of the SPS Presidency, and since 2024, she holds the position of Vice President of the Socialist Party of Serbia.

In December 2021, Paunović visited the municipality of Štrpce together with several other female deputies from Serbia. During this visit, they met with the mayor, who comes from the Serbian List.

“This is how it is recognized how much the Serbian List belongs to the Republic of Serbia and how institutionally, in this case as the Parliament of Serbia, it is proud of these people who do an identical job, just at a slightly lower level, much more difficult than us in our Parliament, and I think this mutual support is infinitely important,” Paunović had stated, among other things.

Now, Kosovo has declared her ‘persona non grata’.

However, this is not the first case of Serbian officials using offensive and lynch mob language against Albanians in Kosovo and Albanians in the Preševo Valley.

Years ago, the former Serbian minister with a pro-Russian stance, Aleksandar Vulin, had referred to Albanians as ‘šiptari’ during a television program. He had stated that ‘gangs from Kosovo are stealing forests and shooting at Serbian police’.

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As a result of these words, Kamberi announced that he will take steps to remove her from office.

Warning of the consequences of inaction, he stressed that silence and institutional inertia would be interpreted as tacit support for her statement and an official stance of the entire government cabinet.

Kamberi pointed out that the fascist rhetoric of members of the Serbian executive confirms that the mentality of the Milošević era is still alive, considering the statement intolerable and urgent for an institutional response.

To this end, he announced that he has submitted a formal request to the international diplomatic corps accredited in Belgrade.

According to him, such an expression cannot be seen as an isolated case. It stems from a culture of continuous denial of war crimes, glorification of convicted criminals, blurring of international court decisions, and rewriting of the past.

Speaking about the consequences for minorities, Kamberi stressed that for the Albanians of the Preševo Valley, such statements by high-ranking state officials create a deep sense of insecurity and raise the legitimate question of what protection they can expect from the institutions.

He also recalled that as an EU candidate country, Serbia has the obligation to guarantee and protect the rights of minority communities, and that the minister’s statement openly clashes with these obligations and exceeds every democratic norm that forms the foundation of the European Union.

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