VZCZCXRO7212
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHPS #0025/01 0131658
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 131658Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9618
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1323
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1860
RHFMIUU/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT
RHMFISS/CDR TF FALCON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUZEJAA/USNIC PRISTINA SR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000025 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR (SCE, ACE, RPM), DRL, USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON ENRG SR KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: SERBIAN MINISTER FOR KOSOVO ESCORTED TO BORDER BY 
KOSOVO AND EULEX POLICE 
 
REF: EMAILS BURTON-PFEUFFER JAN 12, 2010 
 
PRISTINA 00000025  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: After ignoring procedures for official visits to 
Kosovo, Serbian Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic and his party 
were stopped and expelled from Kosovo by Kosovo Police on January 
¶13.  Bogdanovic and his party were traveling to Strpce for political 
purposes.  The stop went smoothly and no fallout in Strpce is 
expected.  EULEX police observed the entire operation.  In a 
conversation with us, Bogdanovic's deputy threatened an end to the 
GOS's "cooperation" on Kosovo as a consequence of the expulsion. 
Bogdanovic was quick to imply in the press that his expulsion was an 
example of the GOK's denial of the basic human right of freedom of 
movement to Kosovo Serbs.  In fact, it was evidence only that GOS 
officials cannot blatantly disregard the rules governing official 
visits to Kosovo without consequence.  END SUMMARY 
 
KOSOVO POLICE ENDS MINISTER'S UNAUTHORIZED TRIP 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Kosovo Police (KP) stopped Serbian Minister for Kosovo 
Goran Bogdanovic, his deputy Dragan Petkovic, and their 25-person 
entourage just outside the village of Jazince, Strpce Municipality, 
at 1148 on January 13.  The KP, which included regular and special 
units, told the Minister he had to leave Kosovo because he failed to 
observe procedures for official visits.  (Note: Bogdanovic was 
traveling to Strpce to meet with representatives of illegal, 
parallel structures and did not request permission from the GOK for 
the trip.  End Note) Bogdanovic asked to be escorted to Mitrovica, 
but the KP escorted him to the Merdare border crossing with Serbia. 
At one point, the KP searched the vehicles in Bogdanovic's six-car 
convoy.  EULEX Police monitored the KP throughout, and Bogdanovic 
and his party cooperated.  He left Kosovo without incident at 
approximately 1430, pausing at the border to make statement to the 
press.  Bogdanovic asserted the episode demonstrated that Serbs 
lacked the right to move freely in Kosovo. 
 
KOSOVO HAD SOUGHT, RECEIVED EU SUPPORT FOR STOP 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Bogdanovic had travelled to Strpce from Mitrovica in 
northern Kosovo in a private car, ignoring explicit advice from EUSR 
and EULEX not to ignore procedures for requesting permission to 
travel to Kosovo and to refrain from making the trip without the 
proper authority (Ref).  Prime Minister Hashim Thaci had urged 
ICR/EUSR Pieter Feith to stop Bogdanovic's visit because of its 
clear political purpose and Bogdanovic's failure to seek and receive 
approval for it.  Thaci also sought Feith's support for KP action to 
stop Bogdanovic.  Brussels subsequently approved EULEX monitoring of 
the KP's effort to stop Bogdanovic. 
 
LEGITIMATE MAYOR UNFAZED BY INCIDENT 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) Strpce's new mayor, the Independent Liberal Party's (SLS) 
Bratislav Nikolic, who was inaugurated on January 12, told us 
Bogdanovic had managed to visit a GoS-funded school in Strpce's 
Sevce village, before he was stopped by KP.  According to Nikolic, 
villagers at the school had complained about Bogdanovic's lack of 
attention to Strpce.  Nikolic said the municipal government did not 
expect any negative fallout within the community due to Bogdanovic's 
expulsion.  Assistant Minister Petkovic called us twice from the 
road, very agitated, and stated the GOS would "re-think its 
cooperation" on Kosovo following the stop.  He also complained about 
the KP's search of their vehicles. 
 
COMMENT: VISITS ARE ALL ABOUT STATUS AND SPIN 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Today's attempt by Minister Bogdanovic to make what was 
clearly a political visit to Kosovo without permission, and his 
statements at its conclusion, suggest that the visit was intended 
 
PRISTINA 00000025  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
from the beginning to be a political stunt.  Bogdanovic's contention 
that his treatment demonstrates Kosovo Serbs' lack freedom of 
movement is wrong on its face.  The KP action was nothing more than 
a statement about the consequences to Serbian government officials 
of ignoring established procedures for arranging official visits to 
Kosovo.  Bogdanovic's statements on freedom of movement mirror those 
of President Tadic, delivered yesterday on Zvecan's TV "Most."  They 
likely hint at arguments Serbia intends to make before the Security 
Council when it next debates Kosovo January 22, where it would not 
surprise us if representatives from Belgrade and other capitals 
tried to make political hay out of today's events. 
 
DELL