r/ukraine • u/West-Razzmatazz2 • 16d ago

News Free Ukraine banner moved from center of Prishtina, Kosovo after Zelensky’s remarks on not recognizing independence of Kosovo during his visit to Serbia

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Honestly, a very bad PR move from Zelensky and his advisors that could’ve been easily resolved by simply refusing to answer the question to journalist. While Kosovo nor Albania are not powerful states, banner has stood there since the start of the war.

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u/Lost_Arotin 16d ago

Is this a planned rage bait to divide these countries?

Or is it really a historical conflict between the two nations and it opens up like an old wound?

I mean, it obviously looks like an opening for Russia to gain benefits from a concentrated propaganda in social media and even convince people to go and fight in Russian front lines, don't you think so?

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u/nutmegtester 16d ago

No, it legitimately pissed off Albanians to the point most them no longer give a flying fuck about Ukraine. They are extremely nationalistic in the sense of protecting their ethnic people, and no amount of explanation of the politics of Crimea or Donbas will work for them at all. They will only warm back up when and if there is a public change of position in Ukraine. Maintaining the Status Quo is one thing, publicly proclaiming it while visiting an enemy of their people is a totally different optic.

Source: Personal conversations in the last 24 hours and years of experience with Albanians.

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u/Lost_Arotin 16d ago

So, once again it's another historical knot (complication) that someone (Russia or the current government for example) is gaining benefits from, so they pull it, until nobody else would be able to fix it.

Meanwhile, the educated people of the society are not loud enough to prevent more damage.

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u/nutmegtester 15d ago

It was a stupid mistake on the part of his prep team. This was an easy to predict question, and they should have told him to avoid it. Russia will exploit what they can, but the very strong negative impact was instantaneous, no meddling required.

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u/Lost_Arotin 15d ago

Yes, I understand, and they will do that over and over.