Ethnic groups in Kosovo

BELGRADE - The March 17-18, 2004 pogrom against Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija had only one goal - independence of the so-called Kosovo, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday evening.

WASHINGTON - The Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija has issued a memorandum warning that Pristina's ban on the Serbian dinar could have far-reaching consequences for critical sectors such as hospitals, educational institutions and kindergartens, which are vital for the needs of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs, US-based internet news portal The Pavlovic Today reports, quoting diplomatic sources

Dejan, then 20, had been nearing the end of his military service in Kosovo, then a southern province of Serbia, when NATO launched air strikes to halt a brutal Serbian counter-insurgency war. At the time, Serbia and Montenegro were all that was left of Yugoslavia, still joined together after the other four republics - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia - had seceded.

Petr Bystron, who is also a member of the Bundestag, stated in an interview for Russia Today Balkan that the bombing of the FR Yugoslavia in 1999 was a violation of international law and a sin, as well as that this illegal war led to the violent secession of a part of the sovereign country, the former Yugoslavia.

BRUSSELS/BELGRADE - The EU special envoy for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue Miroslav Lajcak said on Wednesday violence was never acceptable and that a political solution to the current crisis in the north of Kosovo-Metohija was "urgently needed".

In an interview for Kosovo Online, Bystron assessed as inappropriate the attempt of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to portray Serbs as "vassals of Russia" and Albanians as victims, adding that his "ethnocentric chauvinism" should not be tolerated in Europe.

"Since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict did not bring the desired effect for the US, Washington must create a new war on the European continent," Chinese military expert Song Zhongping believes.

RASKA - After a discussion with Kosovo Serb representatives in Raska, central Serbia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic presented a set of five conclusions regarding the position of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija.

Negative and positive stereotypes about Albanians are the legacy of colonial ideology. However, the recent phenomenon of marginalization spread in the early 1990s, when Albanians emigrated abroad. Albanians felt unwelcome in Western European countries and some of them tried to conceal themselves in order not to be harassed.

Hundreds of Kosovo Albanians and troops gathered on Sunday in the village of Koshare/Kosare to commemorate the anniversary of a key battle 24 years ago near the Kosovo-Albania border between the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighters and Yugoslav Army troops.