Kosovo Tried to Arm Itself. Its Politics Said No.

Days after that attack, Kosovo’s opposition froze the Security Fund, choosing courts over readiness, legality over deterrence, and paralysis at the moment of greatest risk.

I remember clearly when Albin Kurti’s government opened Kosovo’s Security Fund on March 1 2022¹. It was not a symbolic gesture. It was a sober response to a deteriorating regional order and to a neighbour that has never accepted Kosovo’s existence as a sovereign state. Serbia still keeps Kosovo inside its constitution. In September 2022 Belgrade formally aligned its foreign policy with Moscow² at the very moment Russia was waging a full scale war in Ukraine. The message was not subtle. Kosovo sits on the frontline of a Kremlin aligned strategy in the Balkans³.

The purpose of the Security Fund was explicit and honest. It allowed citizens at home and in the diaspora to contribute directly to strengthening Kosovo’s defence and security capacities. It was meant to supplement a chronically underfunded security sector and accelerate the transformation of the Kosovo Security Force into a credible deterrent. In plain language it was about arming Kosovo. Not for adventure. Not for provocation. But…