Kosovo and Israel formally established diplomatic ties on Monday in a ceremony held digitally due to the pandemic lockdown.
Kosovo Foreign Minister Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla and her Israeli counterpart, Gabriel Ashkenazi, held a virtual ceremony to sign the documents in their respective capitals.
“Today we are making history. We are establishing diplomatic relations between Israel and Kosovo,” said Ashkenazi.
A government official takes a selfie dueing a ceremony held digitally, in the capital Pristina, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. Kosovo and Israel formally have established diplomatic ties in a ceremony held digitally due to the pandemic lockdown. Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla and her Israeli counterpart Gabriel Ashkenazi on Monday held a virtual ceremony signing the documents. The two countries considered it as “making history” and marking “a new chapter.” (AP PhotoVisar Kryeziu)
“We mark a new chapter in the historical bond between our countries,” Haradinaj-Stublla responded in her speech.
The decision on mutual recognition between Kosovo and Israel was achieved last September as part of a summit at the White House when Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic agreed to normalize economic ties in the presence of then-President Donald Trump.
Both Pristina and Jerusalem thanked Washington for its efforts to bridge the establishment of diplomatic ties.
A government official holding an umbrella passes by a monitor displaying Kosovo's Foreign Minister Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla during a signing ceremony held virtually, in the capital Pristina, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. Kosovo and Israel formally have established diplomatic ties in a ceremony held digitally due to the pandemic lockdown. Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla and her Israeli counterpart Gabriel Ashkenazi on Monday held a virtual ceremony signing the documents. The two countries considered it as “making history” and marking “a new chapter.” (AP PhotoVisar Kryeziu)
At the summit, Belgrade also agreed to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, something it hasn’t done so far.
Ashkenazi said “Israel wants a stable Balkans,” adding that, “I consider Serbia as a close and significant partner in the Balkans.”
The Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in late 2017 and moved the U.S. embassy there in May 2018.
It encouraged other countries to do the same but was widely criticized by the Palestinians and many in Europe because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains unresolved.
Kosovo’s Parliament declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nine years after a U.S.-led 78-day NATO airstrike campaign against Serbia to stop a bloody crackdown against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
Most Western nations have recognized Kosovo’s independence, but Serbia and its allies Russia and China have not.
Israel becomes the 117th country to recognize Kosovo, according to Haradinaj-Stublla.
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Monday that his administration is not in talks with the U.S. government, a day after President Donald Trump threatened the Caribbean island in the wake of the U.S. attack on Venezuela.
Díaz-Canel posted a flurry of brief statements on X after Trump suggested that Cuba “make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not say what kind of deal.
Díaz-Canel wrote that for “relations between the U.S. and Cuba to progress, they must be based on international law rather than hostility, threats, and economic coercion.”
He added: “We have always been willing to hold a serious and responsible dialogue with the various US governments, including the current one, on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect, principles of International Law, and mutual benefit without interference in internal affairs and with full respect for our independence."
His statements were reposted by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on X.
On Sunday, Trump wrote that Cuba would no longer live off oil and money from Venezuela, which the U.S. attacked on Jan. 3 in a stunning operation that killed 32 Cuban officers and led to the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro.
Cuba was receiving an estimated 35,000 barrels a day from Venezuela before the U.S. attacked, along with some 5,500 barrels daily from Mexico and roughly 7,500 from Russia, according to Jorge Piñón of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, who tracks the shipments.
Even with oil shipments from Venezuela, widespread blackouts have persisted across Cuba given fuel shortages and a crumbling electric grid. Experts worry a lack of petroleum would only deepen the island's multiple crises.
The situation between the U.S. and Cuba is “very sad and concerning,” said Andy S. Gómez, retired dean of the School of International Studies and senior fellow in Cuban Studies at the University of Miami.
He said he sees Díaz-Canel’s latest comments “as a way to try and buy a little bit of time for the inner circle to decide what steps it’s going to take.”
Gómez said he doesn’t visualize Cuba reaching out to U.S. officials right now.
“They had every opportunity when President (Barack) Obama opened up U.S. diplomatic relations, and yet they didn’t even bring Cuban coffee to the table,” Gómez said. “Of course, these are desperate times for Cuba.”
Michael Galant, senior research and outreach associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., said he believes Cuba might be willing to negotiate.
“Cuba has been interested in finding ways to ease sanctions,” he said. “It's not that Cuba is uncooperative.”
Galant said topics for discussion could include migration and security, adding that he believes Trump is not in a hurry.
“Trump is hoping to deepen the economic crisis on the island, and there are few costs to Trump to try and wait that out,” he said. “I don’t think it’s likely that there will be any dramatic action in the coming days because there is no rush to come to the table.”
Cuba's president stressed on X that “there are no talks with the U.S. government, except for technical contacts in the area of migration.”
The island’s communist government has said U.S. sanctions cost the country more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The Cuban flag flies at half-mast at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
