Albania and Serbia are blaming each other amid a diplomatic row over Tuesday night’s flag-flying stunt, that led to the football international in Belgrade between the two Balkan nations being abandoned.<br /><br />The brother of Albania’s prime minister has denied guiding the drone that flew a nationalist flag over the pitch.<br /><br />Olsi Rama said he had been “taken aside” by police, but denied being arrested in the stands.<br /><br />Some Serbian media said the 45-year-old was caught with the remote control in his hands.<br /><br />“I’ve never used a drone in my life, only bought my son a toy helicopter,” he said.<br /><br />An Albanian fan group has claimed to have flown the flag. <br /><br />It was grabbed by a Serbian player, prompting an angry reaction from the Albanian team.<br /><br />The Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said the aim of the stunt was to humiliate the Serbian people, and to cause long-lasting instability in Serbia and throughout the Western Balkans.<br /><br />The Albanian extremists wanted to portray Serbia as an intolerant country, he added.<br /><br />The PM also claimed to have warned EU representatives before the match that something was being planned.<br /><br />Belgrade has described the stunt as “political provocation”, and denies responsibility for the violence that followed.<br /><br />Albania meanwhile is showing no remorse either.<br /><br />Its team arrived home in Tirana to a heroes’ welcome. Players had been attacked by Serbian fans who invaded the pitch, and pelted from the stands as they ran for cover. <br /><br />The Albanian Sports Minister Lindita Nikolla said:<br />“We demonstrated civilised behaviour, a characteristic the Albanian people want to show as an important factor in peace and understanding. I express my gratitude as a citizen and as the Minister of Sports for all the values our team showed.”<br /><br />Other senior Albanian government figures have lavished similar praise via their Facebook pages.<br /><br />The row threatens to overshadow a planned historic visit to Belgrade by Albania’s prime minister Edi Rama – and to reverse a thaw in relations between the two nations which both want to join the EU.
