Vladimir Putin has been making headlines for several weeks as rumours about his health circulate online. These have been pushed by the Russian Telegram channel General SVR, which spread unverified reports of the Russian president suffering a cardiac arrest in his home. The drama came to a head when a story started doing the rounds that claimed Putin’s body was in a freezer. The Kremlin has solidly and repeatedly denied these claims, stating that everything is ‘fine’ with the Russian president.
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Now, Putin is back in headlines and showing no signs of weaknesses. Experts are even worried about him fanning the flames of another conflict. So, why are experts worried about Putin’s involvement in the tensions between Serbia and Kosovo? And what exactly is going on between these two countries?
Putin’s involvement in the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo
An article was published recently in Foreign Affairs magazine in which two experts discussed the Russian President’s involvement in the long-running conflict between Serbia and Kosovo.
David Shedd, a retired intelligence officer, and Ivana Stradner, an expert in Russia's security and military strategies, outlined their views on the matter in the publication. They argue that it is the West’s duty to get involved and prevent Putin from worsening the already ‘alarming’ situation between these two countries.
According to Shedd and Stradner, Putin is backing Serbia because it gives Russia ‘a foothold in the Balkans’.
What’s going on between these European countries?
There have been months of tension between Serbia and Kosovo. According to the BBC:
A clash occurred in late September when ethnic Serb gunmen stormed the village of Banjska in the Serb-majority region of north Kosovo, barricading themselves in a Serbian Orthodox monastery.
One policeman and three gunmen were killed.
It is seen as the worst escalation of violence in years.
As Shedd and Stradner explained, Putin is also supporting Serbia to put pressure on NATO:
NATO forced Serbia to pull out of Kosovo in 1999, and the alliance has maintained a small peacekeeping force of NATO troops in the latter country ever since.
As a result, rising tensions between Kosovo and Serbia test NATO’s staying power in the region.
As Putin continues to push for Russia’s victory in Ukraine, the rest of the world now has another reason to worry about this notoriously vicious leader.
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Sources used:
Express: Putin could provoke 'another war in Europe' as tensions brew between Serbia and Kosovo
BBC News: Kosovo: Why is violence flaring between ethnic Serbs and Albanians?
