French journalist Frédéric Saillot said he was denied entry to Kosovo on Saturday morning at the Jarinje crossing and subsequently returned to Belgrade.
In a statement to KoSSev, Saillot said he has been reporting from Kosovo and the wider Balkan region for more than two decades.
“I am a French journalist and I have been reporting from Kosovo for 22 years — first for the monthly Balkans Infos from April 2004 to 2014, and later for my own website Eurasia Express,” Saillot said.
After spending two weeks reporting in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Saillot said he had planned to travel to Kosovo to cover the implementation of the Law on Foreigners.
“I took a night bus from Belgrade last night, but this morning at the crossing they told me I was not allowed to enter Kosovo,” he said.
According to Saillot, border officers asked about the purpose of his visit.
“I told them I was a journalist and that I wanted to visit North Mitrovica, Gracanica and Strpce,” he explained.
He said the officers informed him that his name appeared on a list of individuals banned from entering Kosovo but could not explain the reason.
“They told me they didn’t know why I was banned from entering. They asked me to sign the documents and return to Belgrade,” Saillot added, providing KoSSev with a copy of the document he received at the crossing.
Officials also asked when he had last visited Kosovo and whether he had encountered any problems during that trip.
“I told them it was in February 2025 and that I had no problems at the time,” he said.
Saillot said he had informed the French Embassy in Pristina and the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs about the incident, describing the entry ban as:
“Contrary to European values related to media freedom.”
He also confirmed to KoSSev that he had contacted the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK) regarding the incident.
KoSSev has contacted Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the case and is still awaiting a response.
Frédéric Saillot is a French journalist and publicist focusing on geopolitics, with particular attention to Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
He has authored several books and analyses on the breakup of Yugoslavia, the wars of the 1990s and international policy toward the region, including works addressing events in the village of Račak and the NATO intervention in 1999.
His publications often examine political and media narratives surrounding these events and frequently take a critical approach to dominant Western interpretations.
UNS Condemns Entry Ban
The Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) and its branch in Kosovo on Saturday evening strongly condemned the decision to deny Saillot entry to Kosovo.
“The restriction of journalists’ freedom of movement is unacceptable,” the organization said in a statement.
UNS called on Kosovo authorities to immediately stop what it described as such practices and announced that it would inform international journalist organizations and human rights groups about the case.
As of Suday, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK) has not yet issued an official statement regarding the incident.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
