Kosovo has emerged as one of the key reasons why U.S. lawmakers are urging that the 2027 Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly be relocated from Belgrade to the United States.
At the center of the controversy are recent remarks by Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Snežana Paunović, who stated that “if Slobodan Milošević had wanted to, he would have carried out ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in 1998.”
U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson, who introduced a congressional resolution calling for the annual OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to be held in Charleston, South Carolina, instead of Belgrade, argued that such statements are incompatible with the principles on which the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is founded.
According to Wilson, the rhetoric of senior Serbian officials, combined with Serbia’s continued ties with Russia, China, and Iran, raises serious concerns about whether Belgrade is an appropriate host for one of Europe’s leading institutions dedicated to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
“Statements that appear to endorse ethnic cleansing are fundamentally incompatible with the principles upon which the OSCE was founded,” Wilson wrote in a letter addressed to the leadership of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
During the 1998–1999 Kosovo war, more than 13,000 civilians—most of them ethnic Albanians—were killed, while thousands more were reported missing. Political and military leaders of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, along with Serbian security officials, were prosecuted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) over their roles in a campaign of violence and the forced displacement of Kosovo Albanians.
Beyond Kosovo, Wilson also criticized Serbia’s close political and economic ties with Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran. He described Russian influence in Serbia as “excessive,” pointing to the country’s energy relationship with Russia, including the majority Russian-owned oil company NIS.
“Unfortunately, war criminal Putin purchased Serbia’s national oil company, NIS. In addition, there is excessive influence from the Chinese Communist Party in communications and other investments. Even more unacceptable is Serbia’s relationship with the dictatorship in Tehran,” Wilson said in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Wilson’s resolution calls for the 2027 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to be hosted in Charleston, South Carolina, instead of Belgrade. The initiative has been backed by 41 bipartisan members of the U.S. Congress, reflecting growing concern in Washington over Serbia’s political direction and its alignment with authoritarian powers.
