The authorities in Pristina have banned the assistant director of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Svetlana Miladinov, and the liaison officer, Dejan Pavićević, from visiting Kosovo.
Miladinov was due to visit the southern Serbian province on the occasion of the major Orthodox holiday of Saint Nicholas, while Pavićević was due to visit detained Serbs held in Pristina’s casemates, the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija said in a statement.
The statement added that Pavićević was due to see the conditions in which the detained Serbs are held, their health conditions, given the numerous complaints that they are being treated inhumanely and that their basic human rights are being violated.
“This is a direct violation of the agreement on freedom of movement and official visits, two days after the last round of dialogue in Brussels, which shows that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Pristina’s negotiator in the dialogue, Besnik Bisljimi, do not care about the EU or the dialogue process itself,” the Office said.
The statement recalls that during the tripartite meeting of Belgrade, Pristina and the EU two days ago in Brussels, full respect for the agreement on official visits was once again agreed, but that the Pristina authorities have once again violated everything.
The Office assesses that these bans show the weakness of Kurti’s regime and confirm that his rating has been seriously shaken ahead of the upcoming elections on February 9, which he is trying to restore by banning Serbian representatives from visiting Kosovo.
“We, and the international community, have long known that Kurti is much more interested in trying to ‘flex his muscles’ on the Serbian people and Belgrade than in respecting dialogue and the agreements reached, which is why Belgrade has no choice but to act in accordance with Pristina’s latest moves,” the statement said.
