Serbian Minister Says She Would Have 'Ethnically Cleansed' Kosovo in 1998, Sparking Regional Outrage
Serbian Minister for Public Administration and Local Self-Government Snežana Paunović, a senior figure in the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), sparked a major scandal by stating during a television interview that if she had been Slobodan Milošević in 1998, she 'would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo.' She later clarified she meant expelling Albanians who did not feel like citizens of Yugoslavia and 'eliminating' Kosovo Liberation Army members as terrorists. The remarks drew immediate condemnation from Kosovo, whose interior minister declared Paunović a permanently unwelcome person. The article notes that the controversy reveals a deeper reality: Belgrade has never abandoned the Milošević-era narrative about Kosovo, but has learned to express it more quietly in Brussels. The 1998-1999 Kosovo war killed over 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians.
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