President Vjosa Osmani has categorically denied the report by Serbian television claiming that several Albanians attacked Serbian gendarmerie officers with firearms, calling it Serbian propaganda aimed at damaging Kosovo’s image.
The head of state said this is further proof that Serbia, in addition to using terrorist paramilitary groups, also uses propaganda.
“One of the main tools Serbia has used throughout history is propaganda—very dangerous, because even today, with new technological developments, it can produce anything as part of a continuous, non-traditional form of warfare. Beyond attacks with terrorist paramilitary groups in Banjska, they also use propaganda to create fear, provoke tensions, and attempt to reignite violence in our country and our region.
I call on citizens to verify and re-verify news, especially when it originates from Serbia. They lied when they claimed there had been gunfire from Kosovo toward Serbia—you saw the police statement that refuted that,” she said.
President Osmani also clarified and explained her statement from an interview with POLITICO, where she said that what she had in mind was the number of cases in which Serbian gangs were involved in crimes.
“We issued an official clarification regarding the interview I gave to POLITICO, and the necessary corrections were made. What I meant was the number of cases. Serbian gangs have been involved in hundreds of incidents—from the misuse of votes in 2021 onward, to ongoing pressure on Serbian citizens, the illegal smuggling of weapons into Kosovo, violence against civilians, and even attacks on journalists. We have 93 cases of attacks against KFOR soldiers alone. There are hundreds upon hundreds of cases where Serbian gangs have been involved in criminal acts. So I was referring to cases, and it was something completely unintentional; even POLITICO did not use that line and it did not appear in international media,” Osmani added.
In her interview with POLITICO, while walking in Berlin, Osmani stated that in the past five years “over 900 criminal gangs have been dismantled.”