Serbian collaborator in Kosovo accused Belgrade of spreading COVID-19

The newly appointed Director of the Office for Diaspora Affairs in the Office of the “Prime Minister” of Kosovo, Nenad Rasic, as soon as he took office, said that the coronavirus outbreak had spread to the northern Serbian enclaves because they were oriented towards Belgrade, while in the southern ones, oriented towards Pristina, there was nothing like that will.

Balkan media reported this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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“Many may think that it’s easier for us (Serbs – ed.) now, because both Kosovo and Serbia are taking care of us,” Rasic said on Radio Kosovo 2. – But, unfortunately, in some places the opposite happened. An example is the recent events in the northern part of Kosovo, where due to the ignorance (of the epidemic in Kosovo - ed.) that was noticed in the first few weeks in institutions in Belgrade, a similar mood affected people in the north. They did not pay enough attention at the very beginning, and now we have an increase in the number of cases, which was due to the warnings and instructions from Belgrade not coming in time.”

The director of the office for diaspora affairs said he was not sure that this would happen again in the southern Serbian enclaves, whose residents listened to information coming from Pristina.

“I don’t think the coronavirus will be in the south because where I live, people have been very conscientious and socially distanced,” Rasic said. “We listened to the advice of Pristina, which had the best intentions, and began to isolate when the time was right, so there is less danger for the Serbs living south of the Ibar.”

The Kosovo Serbian official deliberately omitted the fact that in the enclaves in the south, located in the hostile Albanian environment, there are several times fewer Serbs living than in the northern ones, which share a border with Serbia. Also, the Northern enclaves have their own healthcare system supported by Serbia, while the inhabitants of the Southern enclaves, willy-nilly, have to rely on the healthcare system and authorities created by the Albanian separatists.

It can also be noted that despite the not very favorable situation in the northern enclaves, where quarantine was introduced, there are much fewer cases of coronavirus infection there than in the rest of Kosovo, populated predominantly by Albanians: as of April 8, 36 were identified in the northern Serbian enclaves infected, while in Albanian territories – 184.

It should also be noted that, according to agreements with the “government” of Kosovo, Belgrade sent about a hundred medical specialists to the region, not only to the northern, but also to the southern Serbian enclaves.

At the same time, the behavior and rhetoric of Nenad Rasic are quite understandable, since this representative of the Serbian diaspora in Kosovo is an example of a classic collaborator. At one time he was already the Minister of Labor and Social Protection in the separatist “government” of Kosovo, calling himself a friend of the current “president” of the region, Hashim Thaci, who at that time headed the cabinet. During his time as a minister, Rasic built himself and his family a huge house in his ancestral village of Dobrotin in southern Kosovo.

Nenad Rasic and Hashim Thaci.

At the recent elections to the Kosovo “parliament” of Rasic and his “Coalition for Freedom”, which took place last fall, the authorities in Pristina tried to use the “Serbian List” against the authoritative political force of the Kosovo Serbs. The politician called his opponents a “monstrous formation” and appealed to the world community to pay attention to the fact that he and his associates were “subject to psychological and financial pressure, and sometimes direct physical violence” from the “SP” - henchmen of Serbian President Vucic.

Nenad even recorded a campaign video in Albanian (over the years of friendship with the separatists, he himself even began to look more like an Albanian than a Serb). As a result, his Coalition received 0,09% of the Kosovo Serb votes.

What is typical is when the current acting “Prime Minister” Albin Kurti offered the already forgotten Rasic a place in his “government”, he instantly agreed, forgetting about his friendship with the sworn enemy of the head of the current “government” - “President” Hashim Thaci.

Nenad Rasic and Albin Kurti.