Barometer Drops On Tirana-Moscow Relations

For a few days, Tirana and Moscow exchanged a spate of cutting remarks linked to the crisis in the Caucasus. Russia alleged that Albania had sold arms to Georgia. At the beginning of last week, a top ranking Russian Army official stated that Albania was among those countries running arms to Georgia. Prime Minister Sali Berisha, in person, publicly refuted these allegations, stating there was no truth in them at all. The Albanian Prime Minister declared that the Kremlin perseveres in its aggression against the small countries. Twelve hours later, the Russian Ambassador in Tirana, Prieshpov, declared that the Russian Army had found arms of Albanian make in Georgia. However, the Ambassador stated that Russia had not articulated any allegations against Albania. Former Minister of Defence of Albania Pandeli Majko stated that Albania had never traded arms with Georgia. ‘In the context of the Russian aggression the debate and polemics over possible arms trade between Albania and Georgia, are not of any substance and even superfluous,’ say the international relations experts at the Albanian Institute of International Studies in Tirana. Georgia is a democratic country, and trade, including a trade in armaments, in conformity with international convention, is legitimate and normal. However, this exchange of sharp remarks over the issue of arms trade brings to light the differences and conflicting stands of Moscow and Tirana related to the crisis in the Caucasus. Albania was among the first countries to condemn Russian aggression against Georgia and the Foreign Affairs Minister of Albania was present at an extraordinary meeting of NATO at the beginning of this month. “Albania lined up behind the West without hesitation, in the debate and acts undertaken related to this crisis. It is these stands that could have caused a drop in the barometer of the relations between Albania and Russia”, says Albert Rakipi, international relations expert at the Institute of International Studies in Tirana. The relatively low level of relations between post-communist Albania and Russia cannot be explained away merely with the stand and the policies Russia implements towards Kosovo. With the exception of the prolonged honeymoon with the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, relations between our two countries, have, in general been quite poor, revealing that what divides us is not only Russia’s conduct towards Kosovo but towards the Albanian nation on the whole. Remzi Lani of the Albanian Media Institute says that Moscow shows aggressiveness towards Albanians, and not just the Albanians of Kosovo specifically. For example, although Kosovo has exerted by no means a slight influence on the development of bilateral Serbia-Albania relations, Serbia, in its own right, has demonstrated significant prudence towards Albania and the issue is that it has been far more careful than Russia has been towards Albania. Russia has opposed the membership of Albania and Croatia to NATO, so the prompt and forthright move by Albania to immediately line itself up alongside the West following the crisis in the Caucasus could quite easily bring an even greater chill to relations between Tirana and Moscow.
Serbia’s arguments on the so-called domino effect which the granting of independence to Kosovo had, appeared to serve Russian aggression against Georgia for a while. But, the decision of the Kremlin to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was not applauded in Belgrade, says Remzi Lani. While silence fell over Belgrade, in Tirana there was a rush to condemn the recognition of Southern Ossetia and Abkhazia by Russia. According to Albert Rakipi at the AIIS, there is no reason why the crisis in the Caucasus should have a negative effect, from a security point of view, on the region of the Balkans. However, the integration processes into the EU, and especially into NATO could pick up speed. Perhaps this could be a moment when Serbia pauses to reflect and realize that Russia’s recognition of Ossetia and Abkhazia signifies that its alliance with Russia has been a proxy alliance.