Stagecraft, Sanctions, and Serbia’s Shadow
An explosive interview unpacks Kosovo’s drone disputes, KFOR denials, Grenell’s stagecraft, EU pressure, and Albania’s intelligence choices demanding accountability.
In an interview broadcast Saturday, Sept. 27, on Albania’s MCN TV, journalist and editor sparred with a moderator Sebastian Zonja over contested drone incursions in northern Kosovo, the state of U.S.–Kosovo relations, Serbia’s regional role, and a swirl of protocol questions surrounding recent meetings in New York1. The conversation, conducted in Albanian, doubled as a critique of media standards and diplomatic stagecraft across the Balkans.
The interview opened with the moderator noting a discrepancy: senior Kosovar officials had alleged the presence of drones in the north, while KFOR rejected that account.
“It is not surprising that KFOR might try to deny such a claim,” Mr. Xhymshiti said, recalling the Sept. 24, 2023, armed incident in Banjska2 and arguing that “an entire arsenal” was smuggled “under KFOR’s nose.” He called KFOR’s response “deeply troubling” and pivoted quickly to a broader indictment of the press: “Media in Kosovo are not acting with integrity and dignity to do their job.”
Pressed by the moderator on why the government had not produced images or data to substantiate the alleged drone incursions, Mr. Xhymshiti agreed that the burden of proof cuts both ways. “When the government claims something, the media should demand evidence; when KFOR claims something, media should also demand evidence,” he said. If the government provides proof and KFOR disputes it, “then the media should hold them accountable and expose it as the scandal it is.”
What “Strategic Dialogue”?
The interview widened to address the optics and outcomes from a week of meetings in New York on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly. Headlines in Kosovo, the moderator noted, framed the moment as diplomatically important meetings, photo lines, trilateral tables. But Mr. Xhymshiti challenged a popular talking point: “There is no suspension of a ‘strategic dialogue’ because there has been no strategic dialogue between Kosovo and the United States3.”
He said the “dialogue” shorthand traces back to a 2021 proposal from President Vjosa Osmani, welcomed publicly by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in 2022 but never institutionalised. He described as “simply false” recent claims4 attributed in the interview to the U.S. Embassy in Pristina, that a formal process had been paused5.
On political theatre and the Republican orbit in New York, he said meetings between President Donald Trump and Ms. Osmani were “a clear confirmation” that the U.S.–Kosovo relationship remains strong, and he described Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, as “rebuffed,” invoking earlier episodes in which Serbian outreach to Mr. Trump’s team allegedly failed to produce face time6. Those assertions, he argued, “confirm there is no broken alliance” between Washington and Pristina.
Serbia, Russia and a Claim of Manufactured Optics
Turning to Serbian media narratives, the moderator cited commentary that Mr. Vucic had refused to wait hours “to take a photo with Trump,” and that a Treasury official did not receive him, juxtaposed with U.S. reporting of close ties between Belgrade and the Kremlin.
Mr. Xhymshiti called the episode “a clear indicator” of Serbian frustration and alleged that President Vucic’s circle had “paid significant sums” to Richard Grenell, whom he labeled “a mercenary diplomat,” to craft the optics of influence. He asserted that Russia’s footprint in Serbia is extensive from a “humanitarian center” in Nis to pipelines for recruiting fighters and business channels to access EU markets, casting Belgrade as a staging ground for Kremlin-aligned networks.
He then tied those optics to a broader claim: that some Balkan leaders were drawn into meetings in New York presented as a “U.S.–Western Balkans roundtable” that were, in his telling, choreographed by Serbia, with Mr. Grenell appearing in a role that suggested official U.S. sanction. “Grenell does not represent the United States,” he said. “He represents the interests of Belgrade.”
EU “Measures,” Not Sanctions and a Call for Tirana to Freeze Ties
The moderator posed a blunt question: If Berlin, London, and Washington agree that Serbia is edging closer to Moscow, why are “sanctions” on Kosovo? Mr. Xhymshiti drew a distinction. “There are no sanctions against Kosovo,” he said. “There is a package of punitive measures by the EU,” linked to Pristina’s refusal to implement earlier agreements that, in his framing, would “install the Republic of Serbia within Kosovo” and “defunctionalise” the state. The government in Pristina, he argued, “rightly resisted,” and he welcomed that resistance despite the EU’s measures.
He then pivoted to Albania. Given Serbia’s behaviour from Banjska to destabilisation “official Tirana should freeze diplomatic relations with Belgrade,” he said, and, if necessary, suspend economic ties “to make clear” that “aggressive and annexationist actions” against Kosovo are unacceptable.
The Grenell Meeting and the Protocol Debate
A recurring point in the interview was a photograph of Albania’s top diplomat, Elisa Spiropali, engaging with Mr. Grenell in New York7. The moderator underscored that diplomacy often requires talking with adversaries; why, then, criticise such a meeting?
“Because Richard Grenell is not a U.S. state entity,” Mr. Xhymshiti replied, repeating his characterisation of Mr. Grenell as a “mercenary” figure and citing past U.S. and European reporting about his work with controversial actors abroad. He called it “scandalous” for official Tirana to “legitimise” him in this moment.
That critique dovetailed with Gunpowder Chronicles’s latest report, which argued that recent New York meetings packaged as a U.S.–Balkans roundtable were not convened by Washington and relied on borrowed symbolism place cards, rooms, and surrogates to project American imprimatur. The thrust of his argument: in international politics, staging matters, and Balkan protocol offices, he said, failed to detect stagecraft.
On Prime Minister Rama and a High-Stakes Allegation
The interview took its sharpest turn when the moderator challenged Mr. Xhymshiti on an earlier investigation by Gunpowder Chronicles into Albania’s intelligence leadership, specifically, the appointment of Vlora Hyseni, a former senior Kosovo intelligence official, to head Albania’s SHISH.
The moderator asked how such a serious claim that Ms. Hyseni had been dismissed in Kosovo under suspicion of mishandling state secrets and then vaulted to lead Albania’s service could be proven. Mr. Xhymshiti said his reporting relied on “verified sources” in London and Berlin and recounted a timeline in which Ms. Hyseni was removed in Pristina in 2021, later surfaced as a national-security adviser to Prime Minister Edi Rama, and in 2023 was appointed to lead SHISH. He argued the move would set off alarms under EU standards, raised constitutional questions in Albania about “loyalty to the Republic,” and, citing sources, alleged a first trip by the new director to Belgrade rather than to allied capitals.
When the moderator pressed: »So, you have sources, not a document that proves it« Mr. Xhymshiti acknowledged the reliance on confidential sourcing and intelligence-community practice. He added that his newsroom has sought comment from Albanian and Kosovar authorities and had not received responses at the time of publication8.
These are high-stakes claims, and Mr. Xhymshiti presented them as part of a larger pattern: that intelligence networks and political patronage in the region have blurred state lines and eroded oversight.
Threaded through the interview was a critique of journalistic practice. “Media should demand evidence” from all sides, Mr. Xhymshiti said governments, militaries, and embassies alike, especially when claims collide in public. The point returned him to the start: whether about drones, diplomatic dinners, or photographs arranged to suggest superpower blessing, the job is to test narratives, verify records, and hold institutions to account.
By the end of the broadcast, the moderator and guest had charted a map of grievances stretching from Banjska to Midtown Manhattan: contested security incidents, EU pressure tools, claims of Russian reach, protocol lapses, and the hazards of mistaking theatre for policy. If the week’s images offered the illusion of clarity, the interview insisted on the opposite. In Mr. Xhymshiti’s telling, “optics are currency” and when they are counterfeit, the bill eventually comes due.
Editor’s note: This report reflects statements made on MCN TV by Vudi Xhymshiti and summaries of reporting published by the Gunpowder Chronicles. Several assertions cited here, particularly those concerning intelligence personnel moves, alleged data handling, and the organisation or sponsorship of meetings in New York have been independently corroborated in this article. All individuals and institutions named should be considered as having the opportunity to respond, and any subsequent statements or documentary records will be reflected in future coverage. Should you have anything to say, please contact us via investigations (at) thegpc.uk
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