The Russian state media Sputnik that is funded by the Kremlin, in its Balkan edition, has published an article stating that official Tirana has placed its tentacles in Southern Serbia.
Sputnik's article refers to the Presevo Valley in this way, where it says that after a long time Albania's influence has greatly increased in this area. In its headline, Sputnik states that "Tirana has taken a new step towards the realization of the Albanian plan".
According to Russian media, efforts by official Tirana to strengthen its influence in southern Serbia have intensified in recent years, further stressing that Albania, far from the eyes of the general public, is launching its tentacles in Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Albania, headed by Gent Cakaj, will finance the opening of the office of the National Council of Albanians (NSA) in Medvedja. This move is part of a plan announced by Cakaj last year. A plan made earlier, Albania has released its tentacles for years.
A little over a year ago, Cakaj announced that the Albanian government would allocate funds to fund the National Council of Albanians in Serbia, and the media interpreted it as part of the support for Albanians living in Serbia, especially in the municipalities of Bujanovac, Presevo. and Medvedja.
The Albanian Minister then stressed that "this decision is part of a systematic platform for the development and preservation of the national identity of Albanians in the Presevo Valley."
"Albanians in Medvedja today have a special need for the presence of the Council and the support of Albania, especially given that they are facing the issue of the passivity of the settlement and are facing a major challenge of preserving the Albanian language as an official language," the statement said.
Albania's new contribution comes after financial support for a project to provide free textbooks to Albanian students in Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja.
Primary school students in Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja, who attend classes in Albanian, started the school year for the first time in 20 years with all the textbooks they received for free.
In addition to the Albanian Ministry of Education, where the books came from, the Kosovo authorities also participated in the "realization of the dream of previous generations" and allocated about 140,000 euros for textbooks.
Apart from textbooks and a new office, Tirana did not remain indifferent even before the last parliamentary and local elections in Serbia.
Ten days before the elections, Cakaj visited Presevo, Bujanovac, and Medvedja. On the first day of the visit, he met with representatives of the parties that had their candidates on the joint list for the parliamentary elections in Serbia.
Although the election results show that after three decades, representatives of Albanian parties enter the Serbian parliament with three seats won in the list "Albanian Democratic Alternative - United Valley", the three municipalities in southern Serbia remain one of the highest priorities For Albania before the elections, Cakaj stressed.
The goal was achieved in Bujanovac, and representatives of all non-Albanian parties were expelled from municipal authorities. Despite negotiations with Serbian parties to form a ruling majority in Bujanovac, Albanian parties formed an independent majority. This is the first time since 2002 that there are no Serb or Roma councilors in the Bujanovac assembly. The mayor of Bujanovac is also an Albanian, and he was elected to that post for the fourth time this year.
The President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja, Zoran Stankovic, was not surprised by such a result in the municipality of Bujanovac and stated that “it was agreed in a previous period, in a meeting of Albanian leaders with Tirana and Pristina".