Sanaa: Kosovo's authorities declared Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Snezhana Paunovic persona non grata Tuesday after she said that if she had been a leader during the war, she 'would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo.'

According to Anadolu Agency, Kosovo's Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla announced the decision, which he said he had signed and forwarded to the country's competent institutions. Svecla stated that the Serbian minister's remarks demonstrated a longstanding state policy of violence, crimes, and attempts to eradicate Albanians from their homeland.

"As Kosovo's interior minister, today I issued a decision through which I declared Snezhana Paunovic persona non grata, undesirable, with a permanent ban on entering or transiting through the Republic of Kosovo. The era when Albanians were oppressed, massacred and ethnically cleansed has come to an end once and for all," he wrote on social media.

Svecla further asserted that the Republic of Kosovo is a sovereign and democratic state with strong institutions dedicated to protecting its constitutional order, territorial integrity, and the security of every citizen. He emphasized that any attempts to revive ideologies of ethnic cleansing would be met with a strong legal and institutional response.

During a TV interview with a Belgrade-based channel, Paunovic stated, "If I had been in Milosevic's place in 1998, I would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo. And this is the harshest qualification I have ever said. Not in the way they want to liquidate us, but in such a way that they do not feel part of Serbia and go to their mother country."

Her statement drew reactions from senior European Union officials. At a European Commission press briefing in Brussels, spokesperson Anitta Hipper reiterated the EU's stance, stating, "There is no place in Europe for rhetoric justifying and advocating for ethnic cleansing."

Following the reactions, Paunovic claimed that propaganda was being waged against her, arguing that her statements were merely an "analysis" and maintained her stance reflected in her offensive remarks.

Milosevic, who led Serbia during the Kosovo conflict, died in detention in The Hague in 2006 while on trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on charges including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.