Svečla on Vulin's threats: Internationals should have full attention

Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla has called for the international community to pay full attention to the threatening statements of the former director of the Serbian Intelligence Service (BIA), Aleksandar Vulin, towards Kosovo and its leaders.

In a statement the day before, Vulin said that just as Mossad (the Israeli intelligence service) acted in Iran, Serbia could do the same in Kosovo.

He even said that Serbia has done this before, while adding that Prime Minister "Albin Kurti is not afraid of anyone."

In a reaction to this statement, Sveçla said that it is unacceptable and completely threatening.

"Importing analogies from a conflict with open war dynamics, armed threats and declared operations against actors considered enemies, and applying them in relation to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, means normalizing the logic of covert operations as a means of direct threat and destabilization in the Balkans."

"It is known that Aleksandar Vulin has had close political and institutional relations with Russia, including intelligence structures, as well as with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic. Due to his activity, the United States of America has placed him on the sanctions list, citing, among other things, connections and cooperation with Russian intelligence actors," Sveçla wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

He added that recent history proves the involvement of Serbian intelligence structures in the murder of Albanian political activists.

Sveçla said that the statement that "Serbia knows how to do this" is a dangerous precedent and that tolerating threatening language remains unacceptable.

In this case, the Minister of Interior mentioned the arrest of two Belarusians and a Russian in the second week of February.

They were detained after entering illegally and were found to be carrying equipment for orientation, camouflage and the implementation of operational plans, "which coincides with the rhetoric articulated by Vulin."

Sveçla said that Kosovo's institutions are carrying out their work with professionalism and that Kosovo is not afraid of such threats.

"This statement constitutes a dangerous precedent and a direct threat to the Republic of Kosovo and its Prime Minister, Mr. Albin Kurti. In addition to documented ties to Russia, Vulin is widely known as an articulating voice of President Aleksandar Vucic's positions. The institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, at a high level of professionalism, are fulfilling their constitutional and legal mandate."

"They are ready to face any kind of threat professionally and in accordance with the law. At the same time, we as bearers of institutions do not retreat in the face of these threats and will continue our path towards strengthening our independent and sovereign Republic. Russia's and Serbia's efforts to destabilize the region must have the full attention of relevant international factors. And neither Vulin nor Vučić can intimidate us nor stop us," he concluded.

Vulin currently does not hold any positions in Serbian institutions. However, he is known for his ties to Russia.

He was the director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, a minister in several ministries, and also the head of the BIA.