Kosovo has declared a senior Serbian state official “persona non grata”, banning her permanently from entering or transiting through the territory of the Republic of Kosovo.
Snezhana Paunović, Serbia’s Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, was sanctioned after she stated that “if she had been in the position of Slobodan Milošević, she would have carried out the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo in 1998.”
Ironically, Paunović made the statement in an interview with the Serbian media outlet Kurir on the International Day of Commemoration of the Srebrenica Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The statement triggered strong reactions in Kosovo from political leaders and institutions, which condemned what they described as dangerous rhetoric and a glorification of ethnic cleansing. The remarks were also criticized by the European Union and EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos.
Who is Snezhana Paunović?
According to official information from the Serbian ministry she leads, Paunović was born in Peja, Kosovo, and is a graduate economist.
She has been a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) since 1992 — the party founded by Slobodan Milošević, who was held responsible for wars and atrocities committed during the Balkan conflicts. The party is currently led by Ivica Dačić.
Paunović has held several senior positions within the SPS. She served two terms as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia and as head of the SPS parliamentary group.
Since 2017, she has been a member of the SPS Presidency, and since 2024 she has served as the party’s Deputy President.
In December 2021, Paunović visited the municipality of Štrpce in Kosovo together with several Serbian MPs, where they met with the municipality’s mayor, who comes from the Serb List.
During that visit, she stated that the connection between the Serb List and Serbia demonstrated “how much the Serb List belongs to the Republic of Serbia” and praised institutional cooperation between Serbian authorities and representatives in Kosovo.
Following her latest remarks, Kosovo declared Paunović persona non grata, imposing a permanent entry and transit ban.
However, Paunović’s statement is not an isolated case of controversial rhetoric by Serbian officials toward Albanians in Kosovo and the Presheva Valley.
Years earlier, former Serbian minister and pro-Russian politician Aleksandar Vulin used derogatory language toward Albanians in a television appearance, accusing people from Kosovo of criminal activity and making inflammatory statements about Albanians.
