Kosovo police officers patrol the village of Banjska, Kosovo, after a shootout. Photo: Ognjen Teofilovski/REUTERS
Today on the Telegraph's Ukraine: The Latest podcast we discuss reports of a new Ukrainian drone army, listen exclusively to the words of the new UK Defense Secretary and assess the political crisis in the Balkans and what it tells us about Putin's strategy to undermine NATO.
Dr Ivana Stradner from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies joined the podcast today to discuss her article for The Telegraph on events taking place in the Balkans. She begins by contextualizing the situation:
Three decades after the bloody collapse of Yugoslavia, recent clashes between Serbia and Kosovo have effectively brought tensions to a boiling point.
As the world recently watched Behind the chaos in Nagorno-Karabakh, there is another frozen conflict in Europe that is about to be unfrozen.
Dr. Strander continues to summarize his article:
I argued that I did not believe that Putin could attack Poland or the Baltic countries now, but he was looking for weak links. And despite NATO's overall military superiority, it has a weak position in the Balkans; Putin continues to outsmart him there.
What happened last week was, in my opinion, one of the worst clashes since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, when 30 masked men opened fire on a police patrol near the village of Banska, killing four people.
They went to a nearby Serbian Orthodox monastery and barricaded themselves. Police recovered an arsenal of weapons, including vehicles and armor, a personal transporter, mines, grenades, rocket launchers and large quantities of ammunition. They also even found, like, a means of communication, you know, equipment, well, from people and they were arrested.
And the main question: who gave it to him? And why did this happen to them?
She continues the analysis of this alarming event:
The Serbian President completely denied any involvement. In my opinion, it would be impossible to carry out such a terrorist attack without knowledge and without providing the Serbs with equipment. He stated that Serbia would never recognize Kosovo's independence.
This worries me a lot because I have been watching the Balkans for a very long time; This is not the first crisis that has occurred. Serbia has already put its army on high alert several times. There have been numerous problems with license plates in the past. Just a few months ago, Serbs there even wounded 30 NATO peacekeepers.
Washington has actually said that this is an unprecedented Serbian military buildup, and the White House claims that Serbia is using modern tanks and artillery, but the Serbian president denies this. And even US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked with Aleksandar Vucic and asked to immediately speed up de-escalation and return to dialogue.
I don't believe Russia wants to use tanks and planes. They don't have to do this. Putin does not need to occupy the territory of the Balkans, but Putin understands this very well and that is what he is doing. He understands how much ethnic tension and identity politics there is in the region, which many Western analysts and politicians do not understand, and he uses it as a weapon.
Listen to Ukraine: The Last, The Telegraph's daily podcast, using the audio player at the top of this article or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app.
The war in Ukraine is changing our world. Every weekday, The Telegraph's leading journalists analyze the invasion from all angles — military, humanitarian, political, economic, historical — and tell you everything you need to know to stay informed.
Our< Strong> Ukraine: The Latestpodcast is your trusted source for the latest analysis, live reactions and on-the-ground reporting from correspondents. We have been broadcasting since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Ukraine: Regular contributors to The Latest are:
David Knowles
David is head of audio development at The Telegraph, where he worked for almost three years. He reported from all over Ukraine during the full-scale invasion.
Dominic Nicholls
Dom is deputy editor (defence) at The Telegraph, having joined in 2018. He previously served in the British Army for 23 years in tank and helicopter units. He had operational deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.
Francis Dearnley
Francis is assistant comment editor at The Telegraph. Before working as a journalist, he was chief of staff to the Chairman of the Prime Minister's Policy Council in the Houses of Parliament in London. He studied history at Cambridge University and in the podcast reveals how the past sheds light on the latest diplomatic, political and strategic events.
They are also regularly joined by The Telegraph's foreign correspondents around the world, including Joe Barnes(Brussels), Sofia Yang (China), Natalia Vasilyeva (Russia), Roland Oliphant (Senior Reporter) and Colin Freeman (Reporter). Also in London are Venice Rainey (foreign weekend editor), Katie O'Neill (assistant foreign editor) and Verity Bowman(news reporter) ). appear frequently to offer updates.
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