Serbs’ patriotic train hits the buffers in Kosovo

Ethnic Serbs in Mitrovica wave Serbian flags during a protest rally after a train travelling from Belgrade was prevented from entering by Kosovan authorities Nikolic, the Serbian president, faces a tough election battle in April against the ultra-nationalist Vojislav Šešelj.

Perhaps this is why the government recently chose to align itself with Donald Trump, plastering posters and billboards bearing his grinning face all over Mitrovica. “The Serbs stood by him all along!” gushes one. Another reads “Congratulations Trump!”.

Here, America’s new president is being presented as a hero to the city’s 20,000-strong Serb population – presumably due to his fondness for Vladimir Putin, who backs the Serbs in their bitter territorial dispute.

But this is a divided city – Serbs live in North Mitrovica, while Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian population live in the south. A 130ft-long steel crossing, the New Bridge, runs between the two.

What Mr Trump really thinks is unclear. But many Kosovans suspect Serbia’s “aggressive” conduct is linked to his recent election victory.

“If Donald Trump takes a friendly attitude towards Russia and pays less attention to the Balkans, it would have a huge impact ... Serbia will strengthen its position,” said Prof Nexhmedin Spahiu, a politics expert at Kosovo’s University of Pristina. “The nationalists’ train, it was just a test balloon for later aggression from Serbia … perhaps next it will send tanks.”

Lord Ashdown, who served as an envoy for the British government during the Kosovo crisis, went further. “This was a deliberate attempt by Putin to destabilise the Balkans,” he said. “All of what is happening [in northern Kosovo] is being encouraged by Moscow.”

Kosovo’s foreign minister, Enver Hoxhaj, described the train as “part of a chain of aggressive events which Serbia has intensified against Kosovo in recent months,” in a statement passed to

When this paper visited North Mitrovica, however, all seemed quiet.

“When I heard about this train I could not believe it was real,” said Fahri, a 29-year-old Kosovan, as he made his way across the New Bridge. Then I saw it on TV my first thought was why would they do that? I was afraid because I did not feel safe and it made me think the war could happen again.” A number of Serbs who spoke to

about the train dismissed it as a political stunt. “There’s an election coming up, and the government wanted to send the train to Kosovo because they thought it would seem patriotic,” said one 58-year-old Serb.

Asked whether North Mitrovica is a stronghold for Trump supporters, Goca, 30, winced slightly. “Trump is anti-freedom of movement, he wants to build walls,” she says. “So why would Serbs want to support Trump?”

Back in Belgrade, ticket office staff shrugged their shoulders when asked whether the train will run again. “We don’t know, maybe they will try and run it again, but after what happened last time, who knows,” said one woman.

Stanislava Pak Stanković, a senior adviser to President Nikolic, said it was “just a branded train,” adding: “We would never do anything to cause provocation in the region.”

A doorman who works at a hotel in central Belgrade said he agreed – to a certain extent. “Nobody wants to go to war, we never want it to happen ever again,” he told

“But for the government, it’s a game, it’s political. After the train thing, I heard the president said he would put his uniform back on and go and fight himself. If he wants to do that, fine. But I don’t think any Serb is going to follow him.”