Pristina is swiftly arming itself, the Americans seem not to know who Kurti really is, dangerous missiles in the hands of fanatics, the US fuels the fire in Kosmet – read some of the headlines that graced the covers of Belgrade-based tabloids earlier in the month after it was confirmed that the United States accepted Pristina’s request to purchase Javelin anti-tank missile systems. These headlines were then replaced by those about the abolition of the Serbian dinar – Kurti pushes Kosmet into poverty for the sake of ethnic cleansing, The final act ahead of persecution, and the like.
The news about the purchase of these missiles was conveyed to the Serbian president by the US ambassador in Belgrade, Christopher Hill, on January 11.
On that day, he informed him that the State Department would forward Pristina’s request to the US Congress, thus officially launching the procedure for the purchase of these missiles.
Aleksandar Vučić expressed his disappointment to Hill, emphasizing that Serbia will work to preserve „Serbian-American relations“.
While Serbia is hard at work at maintaining the relations between the two peoples, the Belgrade-based tabloids have harshly criticized the US over the news.
On January 13, the front page of the Kurir tabloid read: Pristina is swiftly arming itself – Threat: Albanians are purchasing American missiles for as much as 75,000,000 dollars.
Another Belgrade-based tabloid Alo also used a bombastic headline to announce the news: „Alarm! Americans don’t seem to know who Kurti really is; Dangerous missiles in the hands of fanatics; The US sends Javelin missiles to a man who incites war daily.“
„The US fuels the fire in Kosmet“ – read the headline of the newspaper Vesti on the same day.
On the first page, they added the statement of congresswoman Claudia Tenney, who criticized Washington, that is, the State Department’s decision to deliver Javelin missiles to Pristina, which she described as wrong and dangerous.
On the other hand, Politika daily wrote that „Belgrade is preparing an answer to Kurti’s Javelins“, and the text of the Alo tabloid contained a similar report:
„Serbian authorities are acquiring missiles, rockets, launchers from the USA Vučević – We will have an adequate response“.
Although the Serbian President was only disappointed when he learned about the news, on January 14, he dominated the front pages with his warnings about who is arming Pristina, as well as announcements about what weapons Serbia is set to acquire.
On the first page of the Kurir, the headline read: The President of Serbia warned DANGEROUS – America, Turkey, Germany and Croatia are illegally arming Pristina, with the accompanying statement by Aleksandar Vučić that „the goal is to erase every trace of the state of Serbia and the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija“.
„Our country will immediately spend as much as 136 million euros on the purchase of domestically produced weapons and tools,“ Kurir also transmitted Vučić’s statement.
Alo also put the focus on this issue on that day:
„Albanians are being armed by the US, Turkey, Croatia, NATO. Their goal is to wipe out the Serbian people from Kosovo and Metohija.“
On January 15, the front page of Vecernje Novosti featured the news piece saying that, three days earlier, the Kosovo Police had received new firearms which would be distributed to all patrols.
This newspaper interpreted the news as intimidation by Pristina, while also warning about „a hunt for Serbs with firearms“.
„A clear message to our people to move“ – reads their interpretation of this move.
When it comes to Belgrade portals, this topic was on the back burner the very next day, after Vučić announced a potential new crisis in Kosovo from Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum was held last week: the abolition of the Serbian dinar, as well as payment transactions from Serbia, as well as a possible „invasion“ into Serbian bank branches in Kosovo.
The dinar remained in use in Kosovo even after 1999 in Serb-majority areas. During the last week, Vučić’s announcements were indirectly confirmed by the Pristina side.
The Central Bank of Kosovo adopted a regulation on the use of the euro currency in Kosovo. Although dinar was not mentioned in this decree, it essentially confirms that anyone who uses another currency on the territory of Kosovo will be violating the law.
After this announcement, Vecernje Novosti focused on this „new threat to Serbs in Kosovo“.
According to this daily newspaper, the abolition of dinar is the „final act before persecution“.
„The impossibility of withdrawing salaries and pensions would lead to a humanitarian disaster. There is an option to find an intermediary bank from the EU, but it is an expensive solution,“ read the accompanying text.
In its headline, Blic announces that Pristina is cooking up serious provocation as „Kurti wants to leave Serbs without salaries and pensions.“
They also placed focus on the Serbian president’s statement that the other side wants to destroy the dialogue via „not a silent, but a loud departure of the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija“.
Srpski Telegraf also reported his complaint about the news on dinar: „The world should stop Kurti’s madness.“
The next day, in another address from Davos, he specified the date when „the dinar in Kosovo will be abolished – from February 1“.
On the same day, Politika published the headline: „Dinar ban threatens the survival of Serbs in Kosovo, Kurti pushes Kosmet into poverty for the sake of ethnic cleansing.“
On January 20, Vecernje Novosti wrote about the dinar issue in Kosovo, claiming that Belgrade is preparing a backup plan.
„Kurti abolishes the dinar, and introduced the euro illegally,“ reads the headline.
Earlier this week, Informer tabloid, whose focus during the past two days was surprisingly neither the dinar nor Javelin missiles, wrote about the search of warehouses in Zvecan.
„The prime minister of the fake state deployed his police officers to search the warehouse of Stefan Nedeljković, who was shot by Shiptar terrorists in Banjska last year. Kurti won’t let even a dead Serb be at peace,“ read part of the headline on the front page of Informer for January 23.
The same tabloid also alleged that this shows the persecution in the Serbian province continues.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
