The main initiator of the petition, Zlatibor Djordjevic, a former attorney for the Democratic Party of Kosovo and Metohija, said that since the arrival of peacekeeping forces, under the protection of which allegedly the local population is, more than a thousand Serbs have been killed. According to Djordjevic, “the Serbs are completely powerless in Kosovo, they are vulnerable to destruction, and even in Serbia, parties come around campaigning for the recognition of Kosovo’s independence.” Just these facts have forced the desperate people to appeal to the First Secretary of the Russian Embassy and send him a list with the names of those who want to get Russian citizenship. True, there has been no official response as yet. “We see Russia as our only protection and savior,” said Z. Djordjevic. Moreover, the number of citizens who want to get double scitizenship is growing day by day, and besides Serbs, living in Kosovo, also immigrants from Kosovo and Metohija and residents of central Serbia sign the petition.
So who is still responsible for this deplorable situation in Kosovo?
Let’s start with history. In the XIV century in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija there was a center of the medieval Serbian state, and since the end of the XIII century and until 1767 the throne of Serbian Patriarch was located here. It is worth noting that many of the monuments of Orthodox architecture have been preserved to this day in the land. In particular, there are revered Orthodox monasteries such as Decani, Gracanica, Pec Patriarchate are located here. Kosovo has played a big role in the development of Serbian identity and national unity: on its territory in 1389 there was a battle of Kosovo, which has become a symbol of Serbian patriotism and struggle for independence, and during the period when Serbia was under the Ottoman Empire’s power, the Pec Patriarchate was a major center of Serbian culture and the national movement. In the late XVII - early XVIII century, however, a significant number of Serbs left Kosovo, and Albanians began to move to vacant land. The share of the Albanian population gradually increased and by the middle of the XIX century exceeded 50%.
As a result, the Serbs’ claims to Kosovo and Metohija are based on the principles of historic title. The Albanians, in turn, insist on the predominance of ethnic rights, while also trying to bring the background of history under their claims.
During the Second World War most of Kosovo was under Italian protectorate, Albania. During the Italian occupation, the Albanian armed forces launched a struggle for banishment of Serbs from the land. By estimations of the Serbs, from 10 to 40 thousand were killed, from 70 to 100 thousand were forced to leave Kosovo. In 1944, thanks largely to the efforts of Kosovo partisans, the land was liberated and again became part of Yugoslavia. According to the constitution of 1946 of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, an Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija was formed as part of the Socialist Republic of Serbia. the leader of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito, hoping for Albania’s affiliation to Yugoslavia, encouraged the resettlement of the Albanians in Kosovo and vice versa, limited opportunities for the return of the Serbian population. Although in the level of economic development, Kosovo yielded to other regions of Yugoslavia, standards of living here were much higher than in the neighboring Albania, which facilitated the flow of refugees from there.
By the 1960s, the ratio of shares of Albanians and Serbs in the land was about 9 to 1. Despite the gradual expansion of the autonomy of Kosovo, the desire among Albanians for independence and their orientation to the neighboring Albania were growing. In 1968, a wave of actions of Albanian radicals ran down in the land. The authority of the land removed the word Metohija from its name under the pretext of its disuse by Albanian majority; however, officially the land retained its old name before adopting a new Constitution in 1974.
Under the new Constitution, Kosovo’s autonomy was greatly expanded. The land got his representative in the Presidium of Yugoslavia with veto power; the Albanian language became one of the official languages; a possibility opened for establishing Albanian secondary and higher educational institutions. But Kosovo continued to be an autonomous land within Serbia. In 1981, in the land there were mass student demonstrations demanding to grant Kosovo the status of a full republic within Yugoslavia, which led to bloody clashes and were suppressed by federal troops. The Serbo-Albanian conflict reached a new level: the Serbs suffered from discrimination by local authorities, ethnic clashes became more frequent, the Albanian national movement became more radical, and anti-Albanian mood grew up among the Serbs.
The Serbo-Albanian conflict worsened after coming to power in Yugoslavia of Slobodan Milosevic in 1988, who, using nationalist rhetoric, could win wide popularity among the Serbian population. In 1989, in Serbia a referendum was held, which approved a new constitution that drastically reduced the national lands’ autonomy. Kosovo Albanians boycotted the referendum. By its results, the parliament in Kosovo was dissolved, public radio and television stations broadcasting in Albanian ceased, layoffs of Albanians from government institutions began; in some educational institutions teaching in Albanian was curtailed. In response, the mass strikes, protest actions and ethnic clashes started. In 1990, the state of emergency was introduced in Kosovo.
On September 22, 1991 an independent republic of Kosovo was proclaimed, and then unauthorized (among the Albanian community) independence referendum and presidential election were held. On October 22, 1991 the independence of the Republic of Kosovo was recognized by Albania. Armed units of separatists began to be created, which in 1996 were merged into the Kosovo Liberation Army. A partisan-terrorist war was launched in the land, whose victims were hundreds of civilians, officials and military of Yugoslavia. Initially, only militia units were fighting against separatists, but in 1998 the Yugoslav army joined the military actions. The war was accompanied by mass repressions, killings of civilians and ethnic cleansing on both sides of the conflict. The Albanian militants destroyed many monuments of Orthodox culture, drove out or destroyed tens of thousands of Serbs. In 1999, NATO intervened in the hostilities: the Yugoslav citшуы and military targets suffered from massive bombing. Thousands of inhabitants of Kosovo were killed, about half a million, mostly Albanians, were left homeless. As a result, the Serbian government was forced to agree to NATO KFOR troops enter into Kosovo and the land’s transition under UN administration, which was done on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of June 10, 1999.
Since the entry of the NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo, the situation was not stabilized. From time to time, pockets of violence flare up in the region, the blood of both civilians and peacekeepers is shed.
On February 17, 2008, the United States and its NATO allies added fuel to the fire and unilaterally recognized the independence of Kosovo. This decision provoked a mixed reaction in the international community and spurred a new round of violence in the region.
Thus, it can be concluded that the NATO peacekeeping force can not cope with the assigned task and can not ensure the security of the local population. As a result, people who were desperate, had to seek protection and help from a third country - Russia. Having destroyed the sovereign state, having brought chaos to the region, the USA and its allies once again wash their hands.
An eternal Russian question “what should Russia do in this situation?”
On the one hand, the very fact of appeal of so many citizens of other country for the protection to Russia indicates the increased international prestige. On the other hand, it is not worth it to spoil relations with Serbia – Russia’s strategic partner in the Balkans.
However, it should be clearly understood that in case of Moscow’s positive response, the Russian Federation will be fully responsible for the security of its citizens - wherever they are. The possibility of using the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Kosovo shouldn’t be ruled out either. But one thing is clear that such an appeal should not be left unanswered.
Reviews by some of the Russian political elite have already appeared in the press That is what they offer:
Member of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs Semen Bagdasarov (the Fair Russia party) said that there is need to take all measures to ensure that 20 thousand of Kosovo Serbs wishing to obtain Russian citizenship could do so. Commenting on the opinion that by granting citizenship to Kosovo Serbs, Moscow can quarrel both with the Serbian authorities, and with NATO, the deputy said: “When one says that we will spoil relations with NATO, it raises the question: “Do we have good relations with NATO?”
Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, Andrey Klimov (the United Russia party) believes that those who wish to obtain citizenship of the Russian Federation should be governed by the applicable law. “The law should not be rewritten for each specific situation,” said the parliamentarian.
The State Duma First Vice Speaker, Lyubov Sliska called an appeal of thousands of Kosovo Serbs to Russia to grant them Russian citizenship a cry for help. “The situation in Kosovo must have already exceeded all bounds,” said Deputy Speaker. According to her, “if Russia is today in a position to do so, it should properly respond to this request.” The parliamentarian notes that “both Russians and Serbs belong to the Orthodox faith." “For many years our peoples have proved their friendship and brotherhood to the world,” Sliska noted.
Member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, IT and Communications, a member of the Communist Party fraction, Andrey Andreyev said that Russia must necessarily consider an appeal of the large group of Kosovo Serbs requesting Russian citizenship. The deputy noted that the “tragedy of the Serbian people is a direct consequence of the collapse of Yugoslavia, the responsibility for which rests in the first instance with NATO led by the United States.”
The idea to legalize ‘special relationship’ of the Serbs with Russia is not new. In the late 1990s, the then leader of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic put forward an initiative on the accession of his country to an alliance of Russia and Byelorussia. The media have already nicknamed the new formation as BRY (Belarus - Russia - Yugoslavia). However, Moscow took Milosevic’s proposal coldly then - as a result it had remained only on paper. And now - a new attempt of integration of the brotherly Slavic nations. Its consequences for Russia may be more serious than the idea of BRY, though.
Whatever decision is made, the fact remains - the Serbs called just Russia for help. The international community should pay attention to this. To ask a few simple questions: which functions do NATO peacekeepers fulfill in Kosovo when the situation has escalated to such an extent that the Serbs are ready to ask for help a foreign state? And why do Western countries led by the United States turn a blind eye to ethnic cleansing and crimes of the Albanians in this region?
Now the Serbs have hope to live in safety. But these gentry from the North Atlantic Alliance should decide: are they able to take responsibility for the security of the whole nation or is it time to resign their commission to other, more competent in this regard countries? The choice is ours.
