Kosovo's acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, said that the meeting between the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porfirije, and Russian President Vladimir Putin was not religious diplomacy, "but a strategic partnership of authoritarian regimes that puts the region at serious risk."
Kurti described the meeting held in the Kremlin on April 22 as "disturbing" and said that the Serbian Orthodox Church has long played an active political role.
“The Patriarch [Porfirije] called for a broader geopolitical alignment under Russian leadership, repeating that ‘the small Serbian boat, sailing in a turbulent sea, must always be tied to the big Russian ship.’ He also suggested that Serbia’s stance towards its neighbors – Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro – depends on Russia’s global position,” Kurti wrote in X.
Kurti said that the statement made by Porfirije about the geopolitical alignment was made before Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić visited Moscow.
Vucic has confirmed that he will attend the Victory Day celebrations on May 9 in Moscow, a visit that has been criticized by the European Union.
During the meeting in the Kremlin, Porfirije quoted the words of the former Serbian patriarch, Irinej, who said that "the small Serbian boat, sailing in a turbulent sea, must always be tied to the great Russian ship."
"Our position on Kosovo, Republika Srpska [an entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina] and Montenegro, I consider and feel, also depends on the position of the Russian Federation at the global level. My desire, and that of the majority in our Church, is that in the future, if a new geopolitical regrouping occurs, we will be close to that Russian encirclement, in the Russian world," declared Porfirije.
Regarding the statements of the Serbian patriarch a day earlier, the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora of Kosovo, Donika Gërvalla, had also reacted, saying that they violate the sovereignty of Kosovo and incite division throughout the region.
Montenegro has also reacted to the comments made by the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church during the Kremlin meeting with Putin, describing them as "inappropriate and unacceptable."
Serbia has good relations with Russia, and despite pressure from the West to impose sanctions on Moscow over the war in Ukraine, Belgrade has not done so.
Otherwise, in 2022 the European Parliament had expressed concern about "the efforts of the Orthodox Church in Serbia, Montenegro and the entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, to promote Russia as a defender of traditional family values and to strengthen ties between the state and the Church."
MEPs, through a resolution, condemned Russia's attempt to exploit ethnic tensions in the Western Balkans "to foment conflict and division between communities." /REL (A2 Televizion)
A2 CNN Livestream
MUND TE LEXONI GJITHASHTU
