Prime Minister Edi Rama has confirmed that Albania is ready to receive Ukrainian refugees fleeing from war waged by Russia, in a press conference on Friday (26 February) night.
Following Friday’s extraordinary NATO summit, Rama said he would extend the same courtesy as he did to Afghans fleeing the Taliban.
“We will welcome people, family members and those who are leaving or will leave Ukraine,” he said.
He added that all the countries of the eastern flank of NATO estimate 200,000-300,000 refugees will flee the war in the coming days and weeks.
In terms of sanctions, that Albania has agreed to against Russia, Rama said he guarantees they will not have a negative impact on Albania but there may be some smaller impacts from sanctions against Russians in EU countries.
“It is true that Albania’s sanctions are irrelevant, but sanctions are being imposed by the whole alliance and there is no question that Albania embraces all the decisions of the alliance. We will not have very disturbing effects. This is war. Many EU countries are very active towards Russia. These constraints that they will have will affect us as well,” he said.
In terms of energy, Rama said that Albania imports some energy, and prices on the international market could have a knock-on effect here.
“First we do not produce energy ourselves. Second we buy in international markets and their price matters in international markets. We sell it cheap and buy it expensively. These make Albania vulnerable to the international conjecture,” Rama added.
On the topic of security, Rama said Albania is coordinating with NATO to prepare for all possible scenarios. He addressed concerns the war could impact Albania and that the country does not have enough planes to defend itself.
“We have no reason to worry about whether or not we will have the capacity to defend ourselves from anyone by having at our disposal the most sophisticated arsenal the world has today.”
He recalled the NATO military excercise Defender 2021 and the deployment of Special Forces Command in the country, and said there is no doubt over Albania’s capacity for war.
“We have no reason to worry about whether or not we will have the capacity to defend ourselves with all possible powers from anyone, having at our disposal the most sophisticated arsenal the world has today, no no doubt”, he said.
As for Serbia and its refusal to engage in sanctions against Russia and whether this will impact the Open Balkan initiative, Rama said “We did not lack clarity on Serbia’s position from the point of view of its foreign policy when we started the process. We will look at many things in the following days and weeks, not in relation to Serbia, but in relation to how this process will develop.”
He said the initiative is a strategic one and while Albania will not change its attitude towards Moscow, Open Balkan has US and international support and no opposition to start. This is despite the fact this support came before Russia, Serbia’s closest ally illegally invaded another European country.
