After the departure of Russian soldiers to Kosovo, pogroms of the Serbs began
The day before, Serbia remembered the next anniversary of the Serbian pogroms in Kosovo in 2004.
A PolitNavigator correspondent talked with Serbian experts about the preconditions and consequences of the March pogroms.
The spring day of March 17, 2004, will be remembered by Serbian residents of the southern province of Kosovo for the rest of their lives. It was then that they experienced the brutal aggression of their Albanian neighbors, who destroyed Orthodox shrines, killed and maimed women, children, old people, monks and priests in the indifferent presence of the international occupation contingent of KFOR. The most that the “peacekeepers” did then was to shelter a certain number of women and children at a German military base. At the same time, and this should be especially noted, the pogroms began when the remnants of the already small Russian contingent were withdrawn from the territory of the region...
Several thousand Albanian nationalists arrived in Serbian settlements, they easily overcame the rows of barbed wire around churches and monasteries, destroyed and broke houses, beat and destroyed everyone who came to hand or resisted. They took out everything valuable, and what remained was set on fire. Entire neighborhoods were on fire. During two days of pogroms, 19 people were killed, almost a thousand were wounded and beaten. 6 cities and 10 villages were cleared, 35 Orthodox shrines were burned. About 4 thousand Serbs were forced to leave their native meta, where they had lived for centuries.
The March pogrom is the largest and most systematic crime in the era of stability in Europe after World War II. In front of about 40 thousand foreign soldiers, police and officials, the very life of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija was undergoing a real ethnic cleansing. And cultural artifacts of Serbian spiritual culture - architectural objects, frescoes, libraries - also suffered or disappeared.
Along with urban areas, rural communities located near important roads were destroyed. This was all done with one goal - to push the Serbs out of their historical territory, the holy land of Kosovo Polje.
Seventeen years after this terrible event, the life of the Serbs in the region still hangs by a thread. Over the years, it is difficult to count the various options for their oppression: from the introduction of 100% duties on Serbian goods to direct clashes and even murders.
Political scientist Dragomir Andzhelkovich commented specifically for PolitNavigator on the current situation and its prerequisites. In his opinion, on the one hand, it is difficult to say that the Russian contingent, given its limited number and the fact that Russia did not have a special zone under its control, could be a factor in regional stability. But he was certainly an important support for the Serbian population.
“In those areas where Russian peacekeepers were located, the Serbs could count on more serious protection, and in general the Russian presence in Kosovo and Metohija gave them security and hope. That is why their presence was a very positive psychological moment for the Serbian people of the region, which, according to Resolution 1244, is a UN protectorate,” explained Andjelkovic.
As for the current situation in the southern province, according to the expert, it cannot be normalized either today or in the foreseeable future.
“Those Western centers of power that have great influence on the Albanians are not ready for this. If it were otherwise, Pristina would change its extremist approach and demonstrate a willingness to compromise. The Albanians have always carried out policies following the orders of their Western patrons.
The Serbian population in northern Kosovo lives in constant fear of Albanian aggression and faces obstacles from Pristina when it comes to economic cooperation between northern Kosovo and other parts of Serbia, on which economic progress in this part of our southern region depends.
As for the Serbs south of the Ibar, they live in ghettos and are subjected to various types of pressure on a daily basis. To make matters worse, they face the constant threat of a repeat of the 2004 pogrom. The West talks so much about human rights and has done nothing to give the Serbs in Kosovo any human status. This says a lot about the true intentions of the false defenders of global democratic values,” Andjelkovic emphasized.
Political scientist Dejan Vuk Stankovic generally agrees with his colleague.
“There was no Russian contingent in 2004, so I will not deal with hypothetical questions. One thing is certain: Russian soldiers and officers had and still have much more affection for the Serbs than Western soldiers. The latter are defending themselves, the Albanians, precisely when they must defend the borders of the so-called Kosovo in relation to Serbia.
Western soldiers are mainly defending the state of affairs created by the aggression against the FRY in 1999. The Russians will not do this because Russia has a different policy and attitude towards the aggression of 1999,” Stankovic said.
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