Kosovo

Is Kosovo a country?

It depends on who you ask. Kosovo functions as a state, but many of the world's governments do not recognize it. Kosovo has its own government, parliament, police and passports, and it uses the euro. More than 100 of the 193 UN member states recognize Kosovo. Kosovo gives a higher count and Serbia gives a lower one. Kosovo is not a UN member because joining requires the Security Council, where Russia and China can veto. Kosovo joined the IMF and the World Bank in 2009 and FIFA and UEFA in 2016.

On July 22, 2010, the International Court of Justice said in an advisory opinion that Kosovo's declaration of independence did not violate international law. The vote was 10 to 4. Serbia's constitution calls Kosovo "an integral part" of Serbia. UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999, which Serbia cites, is still in force.

Why does Serbia claim Kosovo?

Serbia says Kosovo was the heart of medieval Serbia. The Battle of Kosovo, fought in 1389 against the Ottoman Turks, is central to Serbian national identity. Serbs mark it on Vidovdan, June 28. Both Prince Lazar and Sultan Murad I died in the battle. Four Serbian Orthodox sites in Kosovo, including the monastery of Visoki Dečani and the Patriarchate of Peć, are on UNESCO's list of World Heritage in Danger. Serbia and Montenegro took Kosovo from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.

Serbia also points to UN Resolution 1244 and says Kosovo's 2008 declaration broke international law.

Kosovo's government says Albanians have been the large majority for generations. After the repression of the 1990s and the 1999 war, Kosovo says living under Serbia again is impossible. Kosovo says independence is final and that only mutual recognition can end the dispute.

What happened in the Kosovo War?

In March 1989 Serbia under Slobodan Milošević stripped Kosovo of most of its self-rule. On June 28, 1989, the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, Milošević spoke to a huge crowd at Gazimestan near Pristina. Through the 1990s Ibrahim Rugova, a literary scholar, ran a parallel Albanian state of schools and clinics. His nonviolent campaign earned him the nickname "Gandhi of the Balkans", and he was known for his trademark scarf.

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) began attacks in the mid-1990s. In 1998 its fight with Serbian forces turned into open war. On January 15, 1999, 45 Albanians were killed at Račak. NATO bombed Yugoslavia, then made up of Serbia and Montenegro, for 78 days, from March 24 to June 10, 1999. More than 850,000 Albanians fled or were expelled.

Serbian forces withdrew under Resolution 1244, and the UN ran Kosovo with NATO troops (KFOR) keeping the peace. The Humanitarian Law Center's Kosovo Memory Book counts 13,625 people killed or missing from 1998 to 2000. On September 16, 2026, a special court in The Hague convicted former president Hashim Thaçi and three other former Kosovo Liberation Army leaders of war crimes. Thaçi got 25 years. All four were acquitted of crimes against humanity, and the defense will appeal. On October 6, 2026, Kosovo's parliament voted to cap the court's sentences at 15 years. The effect of that vote on the court is disputed.

Why is northern Kosovo tense?

Four municipalities north of the Ibar river (North Mitrovica, Zvečan, Zubin Potok and Leposavić) have a Serb majority and lie between the Ibar and the border with Serbia. For years Serbs there used Serbian schools, hospitals, offices and money. In November 2022 Serbs quit Kosovo's police, courts and local governments over a license plate dispute. In April 2023 Serbs boycotted local elections, and Albanian mayors took office on tiny turnouts. On May 29, 2023, clashes with Serb protesters in Zvečan injured 93 NATO soldiers. On September 24, 2023, at least 30 armed Serbs led by Milan Radoičić, then a leader of the main Serb party Srpska Lista, attacked Kosovo police at Banjska. A Kosovo police sergeant and three attackers died. Radoičić admitted taking part and remains at large in Serbia. In April 2026 a Pristina court convicted three Kosovo Serbs of terrorism over the attack. Serbia rejected the verdict.

Kosovo banned the Serbian dinar for cash payments from February 2024 and closed Serbian-run offices in 2024 and 2025. In October 2025 Srpska Lista won back all four northern mayoralties. Kosovo opened a new road bridge in Mitrovica in August 2025, while the main bridge stays closed to cars.

Will Serbia ever recognize Kosovo?

Talks led by the EU began in 2011. The Brussels Agreement of April 19, 2013 promised an Association of Serb-majority Municipalities, which has never been set up. In February and March 2023, at Brussels and Ohrid, both sides accepted an EU plan out loud, but neither signed it. Kosovo's prime minister Albin Kurti says the talks must end in mutual recognition. Serbia's foreign minister Marko Đurić says they "cannot be" about recognition. Serbia's president Aleksandar Vučić said on February 27, 2026: "Kosovo has been, is and will be Serbia."

Both governments want to join the EU, and the EU says normalizing relations is a condition for both. On September 27, 2026, Vučić resigned as president to run for prime minister in an election on October 25, 2026. In Kosovo, Kurti formed his fourth government on September 13, 2026, and parliament elected Justina Shiroka-Pula president late on October 6, 2026, with one vote more than needed, ending months of deadlock. The result was announced just after midnight, and some question whether the vote is valid.