Rama: Albania will not punish Ukraine after Zelensky’s Kosovo remarks

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama defended his country’s long-standing support for Ukraine while responding to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent statement in Belgrade that Kyiv will not recognise Kosovo.

Rama urges maturity and principle over tit-for-tat politics

Rama said the reaction from some quarters in the region — especially in Tirana and Pristina — was immediate and sharp, but that Albania will not turn its foreign policy into a ledger of favours and punishments.

In a forceful address he argued that standing against aggression and backing a just peace are not conditional on every single diplomatic position: "My dear friend Volodymyr Zelensky stood in Belgrade and said that Ukraine has not changed its stance and will not recognize Kosovo. Not even an hour passed before the loudest nationalists in Tirana and Pristina already reached for the geopolitical calculator: maybe we should punish Ukraine, stop cheering for the free and mourn those who bomb them. The most irresponsible among them attacked us because we did not abandon Ukraine. Some even cheered for Russia! What a loss it is to lose sight of the simple truth that freedom does not operate on the principle of paying back. Opposing an aggressive war and advocating for a just peace is not an account you tear up when the victim of a barbaric aggression disappoints you. It is not a favor exchanged for a counter-favor, but a question of who you are and what you stand for in this chaotic world. Fortunately, Albania is not a petty person calculating who owes whom, but Europe in the Balkans showing its path — belief in freedom, democracy and peace and the power of its own example. Ukraine may not be right when it comes to Kosovo. But its right to freedom remains indisputable, and the fight for that right is a fight for Europe and for ourselves. These two truths can fit perfectly in the same sentence. Albania is mature enough to accept both and will do so," Rama said.

Rama therefore rejected calls from nationalist voices to "punish" Ukraine or to withdraw public support. He framed Albania’s stance as a question of values and example rather than short-term political calculations.

Separately, authorities in Pristina removed a large blue-and-yellow banner reading "Free Ukraine" that had been displayed since 2022 — a gesture underlining how Zelensky’s Belgrade visit has reverberated across the region.

Photo: press material from the event