On Wednesday, some people were seen wearing T-shirts bearing the logo of the Russian PMC “Wagner” when protests were taking place in Leposavic.
BIRN journalist Adelina Ahmeti said on “Kallxo Prnime” that the organization was able to record a video of two people sporting Wagner-themed attire. Ahmeti declared:
“Four individuals, wearing clothing featuring Wagner group insignia, exited a car with Belgrade license plates and stopped near the municipality of Leposavic. There, we were able to film two of them…”
Security expert Nuredin Ibishi revealed on “Kallxo Prnime” that the US State Department and the Government of Kosovo have designated Wagner as a terrorist organization.
Wagner is a Russian-based private military corporation. Due to its activities, which feature aspects of right-wing extremism this group initially came to public attention in 2014 during the war in Donbas, Ukraine.
The European Union Council authorized several actions against the Wagner group in 2021.
The editor-in-chief of KALLXO.com, Kreshnik Gashi, highlighted the necessity to refrain from endorsing the emblems of groups that have been labelled terrorists in Kosovo.
According to Gashi, people who are seen wearing such T-shirts ought to be detained or at the very least requested to take them off by the police. I find it incomprehensible that these people received no response.
On the other hand, social media posts that urged Albanians to take part in a purported mass protest went viral on Wednesday.
In northern Kosovo, the Wagner emblem has been seen numerous times.
The police revealed that many people and accounts shared these posts. According to the posters, the demonstration would start on Thursday at noon in South Mitrovica with a potential march toward Northern Kosovo.
“We would like to clarify that, based on evaluations by security institutions, it has been determined that many of these profiles are suspicious, and the posts may have malicious intent, to the detriment of the citizens and the interests of the Republic of Kosovo”
Xhelal Sveçla, the minister of internal affairs for Kosovo, responded on Facebook and urged all residents to ignore these dubious calls and unidentified organizations.
An inquiry has been started to determine who sent this protest warning, a BIRN source within the Kosovo Police said on Thursday.
Dozens of people gathered in “Isa Boletini” square in South Mitrovica on Thursday to protest the state of affairs in the nation’s north.
Photo: BIRN
