Square in Pristina, featuring a mural of Ibrahim Rugova. Photo by Global Voices, CC-BY 3.0. This story was originally published by Sbunker as part of the regional initiative Western Balkans Anti-Disinformation Hub. An edited version is republished by Global Voices with permission. It has now become customary that in every election held in Serbia there’s an increase in the nationalist discourse of political leaders there regarding Kosovo. Politicians on the left and right, in power and in opposition, compete over who is tougher in relation to policies they would pursue towards Kosovo if they won the elections. The same thing happened during the last campaign for the Serbian general parliamentary and presidential elections that were held on April 3. Since its declaration of independence in 2008, an unacceptable practice had been established in Kosovo that every Serbian election was held in Kosovo, as well. Until this year, such elections were administered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Briefly: an independent country (Serbia) organized elections completely unhindered in another, also independent, country (Kosovo). This practice was put to a stop by the government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti that at the same time called for a permanent solution to be found for the participation of Kosovo Serbs in the elections in Serbia. From the Kosovar side, there was goodwill to enable Serb citizens to exercise their right to vote, once it was in accordance with internationally recognized practices. Kosovo’s offer was rejected by Serbia. A similar development took place in neighboring Montenegro, where the government refused the request by Serbian embassy to allow the opening of polling stations for Serbian elections in Montenegrin towns of Berane, Sutomore and Budva. The Serbian government vowed retaliation. The winner of the April 3 elections in Serbia, as expected, turned out to be incumbent President Aleksandar Vučić and his party. More often than not, he has attempted to build a fantastic narrative in relation to Kosovo, not neglecting his efforts to misinform Serbian public opinion about what is supposedly going to happen in Kosovo. Thus, during the election campaign, in an interview on state television he said, “If Serbs start organizing the elections, the Albanian police will shoot at them. In that case, we would have tens and hundreds of dead.” This false alarm by President Vučić was issued for at least two political objectives. The first, to create a situation of panic and tension between Serb citizens in Kosovo and its institutions. And secondly, Vučić tried to use such manipulative statements to give the message that despite the alleged “provocations” from the Albanian side, the Serbian side would show prudence. Never mind the fact that the very organization of elections in an independent territory is in itself considered a provocation by the institutions and majority of the population in Kosovo. Moreover, during his speech at the end of March, Vučić combined such accusatory statements with veiled threats, using references to the possibility of an escalation of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine (which resulted from Russian aggression). According to the Serbian president, “There are people waiting for the opportunity to provoke war.” Nevertheless, the situation on the ground proved that these statements were unfounded. Vučić’s subordinates also spoke in threatening and insulting tones towards the Albanians, including the Minister of Defense Aleksandar Vulin, well known as a genocide-denier, rehabilitator of war criminals, and promoter of the “Serbian world.” Referring to the suspension of a Serb judge from the city of Mitrovica because of her participation in the meeting of the Security Council of Serbia, Vulin threatened: This is the first step towards pulling Serbia in the armed conflicts in Kosovo, which the Albanians are undoubtedly preparing. If the European Union, which is the sponsor of the Brussels Agreement, does not convene a meeting in Brussels and stops every kind of violence against Serbs in Kosovo, then we can rightly say that Kurti's attack did not come from his hate-poisoned head. There was a series of acts that preceded Serbia’s war threats which are related to presidential elections there. After the group of QUINT states (US, UK, France, Germany and Italy) confirmed that the Kosovo government rejected Serbia's elections, Vučić convened a meeting of Serb politicians and other officials who are part of Kosovo's independent institutions. Among the participants was Milan Radoičić (also written as “Milan Radojcic”), known as the leader of North Mitrovica Serbs. He and several Kosovo Serbs were included in the US Treasury Department's sanctions list last year.