The opening of the military base in Kuçovë has strongly irritated Moscow. Although the first few days passed without much noise, the Russian media is now writing about this development. A few days ago, it was "Russia Today" that threatened and attacked, and today the television "Vesti" has published an article. In the lengthy article, the anger of the Russians is due to the fact that the Kuçovë base was built with Soviet assistance, and now it is used by NATO against Russia.
 |
| During the inauguration of the Kuçovë Base, March 5, 2024 |
Excerpt from the article:
The North Atlantic Block in 2009 was so swift that the Albanians didn't even have time to blink. This was the so-called third wave of NATO's treacherous expansion after the fall of the USSR, which included two Balkan countries - Albania and Croatia. But later, Albania joined NATO like 'crazy.'
But the real military development of Albania is happening now. NATO fighter jets, officials, and a military band rushed to Albania this week for an official photo.
Stalin would rise from his grave if he knew that the same Albania he despised is now, figuratively speaking, under NATO's boots. After all, the Soviet Union provided Albania with everything for free - from building dozens of factories, hospitals, schools, and houses to an air force base and a naval base. The son of Albania's first ambassador to the USSR, Frederik Tashko, recalls it this way: "Aviation, navy, artillery - everything! The USSR even built a film studio here, where now there is a Ministry of Culture. If you say this today, no one will believe me, and everyone will attack me. They just don't know anything."
In other words, the Soviet Union held, figuratively, Albania in the palm of its hand. It was a love based on ideological agreement. And when there is love, money is not counted.
The eternal leader of Albania at that time was Enver Hoxha. He erected a bronze monument to Stalin in real proportions and also copied our state model. Albania, along with other pro-Soviet countries in Eastern Europe, joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and later became a member of the common defense alliance - the Warsaw Pact. Everything seemed to be going well. The USSR supplied Albania with everything, including even cash.
And here is a difficult lesson for us: sublime ideological feelings turn out to be changeable. And it happened. Not among the Albanians, but among us. The Albanian leader, Enver Hoxha, did not accept the fall of Stalin in the USSR. To explain his position, Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev flew to Albania at the end of May 1959. He met with Enver Hoxha at the Pasha-Liman naval base, built with the help of the USSR, where a dozen of our submarines were already stationed. Khrushchev clearly underestimated the danger. He was much more enchanted by the prospect. Addressing the Soviet Minister of Defense, Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, who accompanied him, Khrushchev said: "Marvelous, marvelous! What an incredible gulf at the feet of these mountains! If we station a powerful fleet here, the entire Mediterranean from the Bosporus to Gibraltar will be in our hands."
In Albania, such pleasure was perceived as a reason to ask for even more from the USSR. However, Khrushchev turned out to be much more accommodating than Stalin. For Enver Hoxha, this was not clear at all because in Albania at that time circulated the following joke: "Russians may not eat breakfast once, and Albanians will eat well for a whole year."
In one way or another, a black cat ran between Enver Hoxha and Nikita Khrushchev. In 1961, Albania refused to allow the Soviet navy to settle in Pasha Liman. In the same year, Albania withdrew from the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and ideologically focused on China.
Khrushchev hated Enver Hoxha to the core. In the late '70s, Albania would deviate even from China and take the path of closed, strict autarky combined with radical atheism. Enver Hoxha chose his own path for the small country - a path not connected to anyone.
For the West, too, this small, self-obsessed thing was not a good card. Decades passed, Ukraine appeared, the Western order collapsed, and... But in Albania, a wonderful military airport has been unemployed since Soviet times. And a naval base as well.
Partners laugh at the NATO member and perpetual candidate for EU membership. The Albanians wrote a thousand complaints to the British Air Force in 2011, not appreciating the specific English humor. The hosts of the Top Gear car program spent an entire episode making jokes about old cars and the mafia, which included almost the entire country.
Here's a fragment from the program: "When someone from the Albanian mafia chooses a car, he always has a question - can the body be hidden in the trunk?"
The trio took a tour along the runway of a military airport. They were amazed; it was a NATO location, and all the planes were Soviet.
The base was not built by NATO but by the Soviet Union. The runway is 2 km long, aircraft parking areas are not in open air but hidden in the mountains. In 1955, when the work was completed, the 23rd Fighter Regiment was stationed here.
Now it is unclear what is happening in Kuçovë. The base was opened with grandeur after reconstruction, but some NATO planes flew from Italy just to participate in the ceremony. Three Turkish drones will be permanently stationed there.
Investments did not go beyond the perimeter of the airspace. The alliance does not plan to spend money on infrastructure, as the Soviet Union did.
Kuçovë is a relatively new word on the map of Albania. Until 1991, the city was called the city of Stalin, or in Russian style, Stalingrad.
Stalin was the idol of Enver Hoxha. He erected monuments during his lifetime. Now, of course, they cannot be found.
Hoxha died in 1985, but his work continues, say opposition representatives. We are recording an interview with one of them from a distance. Our interlocutor, Olsi Jazekhi, who is on the other side of the world, was forced to leave due to criticism of the pro-American government of Albania.
"If a political group stands for national interests, or people prioritize the interests of their country over American interests, then Americans are quick to go after them," he says.
Even American newspapers seemed to notice how the United States broke, or rather reformed, Albania's legal and electoral system. The Soros Foundation, closely linked to the Biden administration, was involved in everything. Soros Jr., the heir to a business empire, is a frequent visitor to the Balkans.
What did Alex Soros do in these meetings? The question is more rhetorical. At the summit, they discussed support for Ukraine. The only thing Albania could transfer was the bayonets for Kalashnikovs, a legacy of the USSR. There is no financial aid; we must offer services.
"Albania is an active participant in the anti-Russian coalition of Western countries and primarily of NATO. He was the so-called editor of the USA in the Ukraine file and in this capacity participated in the development of all the most important decisions and anti-Russian statements", says our ambassador in Tirana, Mikhail Afanasyev.
After the transfer of the former air base to NATO, Albania is actively offering its partners a naval base, which the Soviet Union once built for it.