In Kosovo, during the war on the side of Serbian forces, there were a large number of Russian, Romanian, Greek and other mercenaries, but this was difficult to document because the Russian and Romanian mercenaries had extensive experience on the war fronts in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, the KLA on the war front had also managed to kill Russian mercenaries, who were known for their atrocities against the civilian population in Kosovo, to document the fact that the Russian mercenaries were on the side of the Serbian forces. Agim Haziri’s (Commander Lumit) unit killed a former Russian officer in the battle of Koshara.

Commander Lumi identified the Russian officer, Vasil Bukharin, in front of the numerous journalists who were on the front lines in the Battle of Koshara…

In the Kosovo war, the KLA fought not only against Serbian military and police forces, but also against a large number of Russian, Romanian, Greek and other mercenaries who had infiltrated the ranks of Serbian military and paramilitary forces.

This was certain, because KLA officers had repeatedly intercepted their communications and overheard them communicating in their own language. However, it was difficult to prove this to the international community, because Belgrade’s official policy did not accept this fact, while the Russian side tried to deny Russia’s involvement in the Kosovo war and did not accept the participation of Russian officers in this war.

However, this could not remain a secret for long, because the KLA boys had killed and identified Russian mercenaries who were then handed over to international humanitarian organizations and NATO troops.

Russian officer in the ranks of the Yugoslav army

During a battle in the Koshara war, KLA members managed to kill and identify Russian mercenaries. One of them was Lieutenant Officer Vitaly Bukharin, 34 years old, who had previously been an officer in the Russian army and had participated in the Russian-Afghan and Russian-Chechen wars.

This fact was later forced to be admitted by the Russian military leader. A Russian military official admitted that his superior, Bukharin, was an officer in the Russian army, but, as he said: “Bukharin had deserted from the Russian army and joined the Yugoslav army for an extra bowl of soup.” However, Bukharin’s soup this time got stuck in his throat in Koshara.

Agim Jahir Haziri (Commander Lumi) was the commander of the unit that faced Serbian forces and foreign mercenaries, and it was the soldiers of this unit who killed the former Russian officer, Vitaly Bukharin. Commander Lumi, in front of numerous cameras of world television channels, had identified the Russian officer killed in the Battle of Koshara. He tells us about the Battle of Koshara, the heroic fall of his soldiers, about the murder of the Russian officer.

Agim Haziri, from Mitrovica, had graduated from the Military Technical Academy in Zagreb (1982-87) and was a superior in the Yugoslav army until 1988, when he was sentenced to prison and left the JNA, because he had not judged the Paraqin case.

After being dismissed from his job, he fled to Germany, in the vicinity of Munich. There he had obtained the right of asylum and had started working. With the beginning of the war in Kosovo, after the numerous massacres that the Serbian military and paramilitary forces (also helped by Russian, Romanian and other mercenaries) committed on the civilian population in different parts of Kosovo, Agim had felt the need to return to Kosovo, to stand up for his people.

Since the beginning of the war and the appearance of the KLA, Agim in Germany had frequent contacts with his fellow students, Naim Maloku, Fehmi Lladroci, his brother Ramiz, but he had also had the opportunity to meet other friends who later joined the ranks of the KLA. Agim initially stopped in Tirana, where he had also met his fellow student, Fadil Demir, also a former APJ officer and political prisoner with Naim Maaloku’s group.

As military superiors, they made plans on how to enter Kosovo. In May 1998, Agim was stationed in Hoxhaj, Tropoja, where the boys were initially trained, who supplied the KLA and the population of Kosovo with weapons. Later, longer training sessions for KLA members began there.

Agim was in charge of the key points through which weapons entered Kosovo, they had hired about 60 horses to transport the weapons. Then Agim went to Vëlan, near the Albania-Kosovo border, where the boys coming from Kosovo and Western countries were trained.

Commander Lumi’s meeting with Commander Katana in Koshare

Later, Agimi Haziri, from the KLA General Staff, was appointed commander of the Training Center in Elshan, a settlement between Tropoja and Kukës. This was a very important center for new recruits, volunteers who came from the diaspora. There, Agim Haziri received the nickname Commander River.

At the same time, the “Arrow” operation was being prepared. The exact date of this operation was not known, but his soldiers were ready to take part in the operation. Then, the order came from the KLA Headquarters to set off for Koshare. “There were about 200 of us soldiers there, approximately the same number as in Papaj, under the command of Agim Ramadani and Rrustem Berisha.

We joined the 138th Brigade, which consisted mainly of volunteer soldiers who had come from Western countries. This brigade was later called the 138th Brigade ‘Agim Ramadani’”, Commander Lumi recounts.

From Rrustem Berisha, Agimi (Commander Lumi) had taken over the positioning for further action. Agimi had set off in the direction of the Koshare barracks. On the night of April 9-10, 1999, a fierce attack was planned to be launched to drive the Serbian occupation forces from their positions. And so it happened.

Commander Lumi, with about 47 soldiers, fought and cleared the terrain and aimed to enter the Koshara barracks, from its right side. “I found, or rather I joined Agim Ramadani’s unit in the Koshara barracks,” says Commander Lumi. On April 10, 1999, Agimi Haziri, at around nine o’clock, met with Agim Ramadani in the newly liberated Koshara barracks.

Agim Ramadani had offered Commander Lumi a “Morava” cigarette from Niš that they had found after taking the barracks. Commander Lumi, with his soldiers who had come from Vëlani and Cahani, took on the task of clearing the terrain near the Koshara barracks and meeting with other soldiers who would arrive in the meantime and then continuing the further action in the direction of Batushë.

On the night between April 10 and 11, fierce fighting took place, Commander Lumi had several wounded fighters. Meanwhile, Agim Ramadani (Commander Katana) had gone to help other KLA units in Rrasë e Koshara, where fierce fighting was taking place in close proximity with Serbian forces. Commander Lumi had tried in vain to reach Commander Katana by radio.

He had fallen face to face with Serbian forces on April 11 in Rrasë e Koshara. “This bitter news was reported to me on the front line by Esat Krasniqi – Mjekra,” says Agim. April 17, 1999 was a bitter day for Agim. On that day, Serbian forces had launched an offensive to retake their positions.

As a commander, he had lost two colleagues and two worthy fighters that day, Esat Mustafa from Çerkez, Kumanovo, and soldier Dukagjini from Gjakova, while 12 people were wounded.

The murdered mercenary had Russian rubles, US dollars and Yugoslav dinars.

The fighting in Koshare continued throughout May. Agim Haziri (Commander Lumi) also remembers the attacks by Serbian forces that they had undertaken since mid-May to regain the lost territories. Russian mercenaries, with extensive war experience from Afghanistan and Chechnya, but also from Bosnia and Herzegovina, were particularly involved in those attacks.

Agim had several times heard conversations in Russian and Romanian over the radio. While many Serbs had deserted, the Russians held the front and even launched counterattacks. This was also the case on May 18, 19 and 20, when Commander Lumi’s soldiers had stopped the Serbian counterattack, in which many Russian mercenaries also participated. A soldier had reported to Commander Lumi that they had killed a soldier of the Serbian forces, but the documents he had found in the pockets of the killed were not in Serbian, but in another language.

Then, in front of the cameras and many foreign journalists, Commander Lumi, based on the personal documents of the murdered soldier, identified Vitaly Bukharin, a former Russian officer who, as a Russian official later claimed, had deserted from the ranks of the Russian army and gone to the Yugoslav army for another bowl of soup. 3,500 Russian rubles, about 600 dollars and many Yugoslav dinars were found in the pockets of the murdered Russian officer.

Along with the personal documents, there was also a document stating the date of his enlistment in the Yugoslav army, as well as the document for the weapon and things he was carrying.

In that battle, Commander Lumi had lost two soldiers: Xhafer Lipoveci from Gjakova and Afrim Gashi from Hajvalia.

The body of the Russian officer was handed over to the KLA headquarters, who in turn handed it over to NATO troops. The body of the killed officer was then returned to his homeland, namely Russia, through a humanitarian organization.

Vitaly Bukharin was not the only Russian mercenary in the Serbian forces; there were other mercenaries killed as well. Russian mercenaries were known for the massacres committed against the civilian population in the vicinity of Rahovec, Gjakova and many other regions.

Commander Lumi was wounded twice, once by a Serbian shell and the other time by a NATO missile that hit a power generator in the Koshara barracks; it is suspected that the missile was launched at what appeared to be a combat vehicle. He had also had meetings with American military advisors, who asked him what he and his soldiers could do for the Americans.

Agimi had promised them that if they captured prisoners, they would hand them over to NATO forces in order to exchange them for two American soldiers kidnapped by Serbian forces in Macedonian territory. The Americans were quite pleased with this conversation and the cooperation continued throughout the war, says Commander Lumi.

Source

/Telegraph