Associations and representatives of the Montenegrin, Albanian and Bosnian diasporas in the United States sent a letter to Congress and US officials expressing concern about “Belgrade's increasingly belligerent behavior towards Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina” and called for greater and more active engagement of Washington in the Western Balkans region.
“We believe that this issue is of the utmost importance to the United States, as it directly threatens the peace and stability of the entire Western Balkans, and thus of Europe as a whole,” reads an open letter entitled “Joint Response to Belgrade's Threats to Western Balkans Security” addressed to members of the House and Senate foreign policy committees, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
“Our organizations and communities have undertaken this historic joint appeal because the threat is so great that we have recognized that only our collective action can prevent Vučić's regime from realizing its most sinister intrigues. In short, we are convinced that if there is no return of American leadership and primacy in the Western Balkans, the Serbian government will feel encouraged to further inflame regional tensions in order to use the chaos to achieve its geopolitical goals by force,” the letter warns.
One of the authors and signatories of the open letter, professor of international relations at the Frederick S. Pardi School of Global Studies at Boston University, Vesko Garcevic told Voice of America that due to Belgrade's moves, the atmosphere in the region is reminiscent of the 1990s.
“We see the strengthening of nationalism, historical revisionism, the denial of the genocide in Srebrenica and the idea of creating some new great states or redrawing the existing borders in the region. The economic situation is also deteriorating, and the pandemic has made it even worse,” said Garcevic, Montenegro's former ambassador to NATO and national coordinator for the Alliance.
As an example of alarming moves by the government in Belgrade, the letter cites events in September, especially in Kosovo, where Serb tanks, fighter jets and armored vehicles were deployed near the Kosovo border.
It is estimated that these maneuvers were the result of “Belgrade's sudden decisions to give up the license plate agreement that the EU negotiated with Serbia and Kosovo almost ten years ago.”
It is added that this was preceded by the security crisis in Montenegro caused by the incarnation of the new metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which, as it is estimated, was “carried out in the most inflammatory way by the government in Podgorica, whose close ties with Belgrade are well known.”
The authors of the letter also state that Vučić's closest regional associate, member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the ranks of the Serb people Milorad Dodik, “continued the months-long campaign of boycott and obstruction of state institutions” and threats of secession of Republika Srpska and reform of the so-called “Army of Republika Srpska”.
It is pointed out that Belgrade's moves are a manifestation of the new “Serbian world” policy, which is considered to be the relaunch of the “Greater Serbia” project from the time of Slobodan Milosevic, “which led to the worst violence and the greatest crimes in Europe since World War II.”
“When you put all these moves together, then it is clear to you, and that is nothing new because Serbian government officials only confirm it. Minister Vulin constantly says that, the idea of the Serbian world is similar to the idea we heard about the borders of Karlobag during the 1990s. years. On the other hand, some present it as a pale copy of the Russian world. There is an idea to give something to Serbs because, in their eyes, they have lost a lot and that the idea of the Serbian world is designed to give back what belongs to them. From the point of view of other nations, it looks completely different”, says Garčević for the Voice of America.
The letter, sent by representatives of the three diasporas to Congress and US officials, also states that Serbia's activities have the support of Russia, which “deployed intelligence and para-criminal infrastructure throughout the region, in order to further raise tensions and encourage the regime in Belgrade.”
Examples include the attempted coup supported by Serbia and Russia in 2016, which aimed to assassinate the country's key leadership ahead of Montenegro's accession to NATO, and Moscow's support for Dodik's “secessionist pretensions.”
“We call on the leaders of the Congress and the administration of President Baiden to immediately take steps to suppress the Serbian government's attempts to undermine peace and security in the region. A strong signal must be sent to Belgrade that the use of force will never again be allowed to dictate the nature and direction of the policy of the Western Balkans,” the letter reads.
Recalling that the United States has played a “crucial role in securing Kosovo's sovereignty and achieving peace through the implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia and Herzegovina” and that the prospects for EU enlargement are almost gone, the letter says the US leadership needs to return to the Western Balkans, and that NATO enlargement to the region should be a priority for American leaders.
Vesko Garčević believes that after the last summit of the European Union in Slovenia, it became clear that the perspective of the membership of the Balkan states in the EU is “vague”. He also estimates that because of that, there are several ways in which Washington can help.
“To synchronize its activities with the European Union, to be more active in several places – Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo and to promote that the two sides equally participate in the dialogue, not to have one side act and negotiate in some way on the weaker side. To support democratic processes and to strengthen further Euro-Atlantic integration of the region, because we think that the process has slowed down there,” Garcevic emphasizes.
He adds that he believes that there is political will in Washington for greater engagement in the Balkans.
“The geopolitical context is such that many say that after Afghanistan and by focusing mostly on the Pacific, America is actually leaving parts of the world like the Balkans to someone else, in this case the European Union. However, what makes the difference is that without a large investment, say financial, and a great political risk, America can make a big profit. That engagement does not require any extreme financial, political or military presence, but it can make great results”, concludes Garčević.
The open letter was signed by 12 Albanian-American, Bosnian-American and Montenegrin-American diaspora organizations, as well as dozens of individuals.