How Russia’s Ukraine War Is Stoking Tension in Kosovo

Three decades after the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia, the ethnic hostilities that ignited the conflict linger on. Kosovo declared its independence from former Yugoslav republic Serbia in 2008, but Serbia refuses to let it go. There was a flare-up in the dispute in mid-2022 that raised fears of violence on the European Union’s southeastern frontier before the situation was defused. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine added a new dimension to the standoff, with Serbia coming under pressure from the EU to cut ties with Moscow.

Kosovo has a predominantly ethnic Albanian population of 1.8 million, but it includes more than 100,000 Serbs. Tensions grew in August when the Kosovo authorities sought to force the minority Serbs to swap their existing identity documents and car plates to conform with the rest of the population. Many ethnic Serbs viewed the administrative order as an affront, and a threat to their identity. The directive was later put on hold pending EU-mediated talks later in the month.