Ramush Haradinaj, prime minister of the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo, said the policies of his government serve US interests against Serbia and Russia, and that he’s just following orders from Washington.

“The Albanian people all in our lands are part of what America is leading. In the whole global plan we are together,” Haradinaj told the Albanian-language Gazeta Blic on Friday, describing the 100-percent tariffs on all goods from Serbia and Bosnia that Kosovo imposed in November last year as aligned with “what America stands for.”

I am a soldier of America on the ground. I just carry out the orders.

Haradinaj was a commander in the “Kosovo Liberation Army” (KLA) during the 1998-1999 conflict, fighting for separating the province from Serbia and making it an independent ethnic Albanian state. In June 1999, following a 78-day NATO air war, Serbia allowed in UN peacekeepers – which in practice meant NATO taking over Kosovo and handing it to the KLA.

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“He is telling the truth,” Paris-based political analyst Nikola Mirkovic told RT, adding that Haradinaj is simply saying openly what he’s been for the past 20 years, since the US and NATO trained, armed and financed the KLA.

Kosovo is clearly an American protectorate today, and Haradinaj is just telling the truth, he is just an American soldier.

Mirkovic argued that the independence of Kosovo – declared in February 2008 but recognized only by the US and its allies – was an illusion. In the disputes between ethnic Albanians, “it’s always the American ambassador at the end of the day who’s getting the final word and who’s deciding what’s going on,” he said.

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Kosovo is not recognized by 5/7 of humanity, including Russia, China and India, as well as Serbia itself, Mirkovic pointed out. Washington’s policy since 2008, irrespective of which party is in power, has been to pressure Belgrade into recognizing Kosovo as independent.

“Why did NATO bomb Yugoslavia 20 years ago? Because it wanted a foothold in the Balkans, it wanted a military base like Bondsteel,” Mirkovic told RT, referring to the massive US base in the province’s southeast.

Just landed in #Detroit, United States of #America, where I will participate in the event marking the 108th anniversary of the Malësia Uprising. I will also conduct meetings w/ #Albanian community & other #American officials. RH pic.twitter.com/unhkDX6DXr — Ramush Haradinaj (@haradinajramush) April 5, 2019

Haradinaj was reportedly disinvited from the national prayer breakfast in Washington back in February, supposedly over the tariffs. There were even reports that he and another KLA commander – Kosovo ‘president’ Hashim Thaci – were being denied US visas over the issue. However, Haradinaj was able to travel to the US this past weekend, posting a picture from Detroit, Michigan on his Twitter account.

His plans during this US visit seem to include only meeting with members of the Albanian diaspora, however, rather than any meetings with Trump administration officials.

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