Albania and Russia clashed on Tuesday during a United Nations Security Council meeting when Russia’s Vasily Nebenzya compared the invasion of Ukraine to the Kosovo-Serbia war, accusing the west of double standards.
Serbia waged a brutal war in Kosovo between 1998-1999 against ethnic Albanians, killing thousands and displacing 1.5 million before NATO airstrikes ended the conflict. Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, although Serbia refuses to recognise it.
“The most vocal critics of the referendum in Donbas, Zaporizhzhia were, once at the forefront of support for Kosovo’s independence then declared that the territory had the right to leave the Serbian state if there was a real threat to the rights of Kosovo Albanians,” he said.
He added that it is not right to put pressure on Serbia to impose sanctions on Russia when the latter has historical relations with this country.
Albanian ambassador Ferit Hoxha responded immediately, stating that no parallel could be drawn with the referendums that are now taking place in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and Kosovo, which is an “independent country that has been recognised by half of the United Nations.”
“Nothing can be more artificial and forced than the comparison of international efforts to end the conflict, to protect civilians and to establish a peace process, to find a lasting solution as was the case of Kosovo, with aggression clean and unprovoked and the referendum that is now being held in Ukraine,” he added.
Hoxha added that you could not compare the incomparable, and Russia cannot divert attention away from its war in Ukraine by trying to fool people.
Also, on Tuesday, Prime Minister Edi Rama declared that anyone fleeing Russia due to President Vladamir Putin’s call for military mobilisation could come to the country without issues.
” They are welcome in Albania,” he said.
