(Bloomberg) -- When NATO jets bombed Serb forces 20 years ago to push them out of Kosovo, Albin Kurti was packed onto a red bus with other political prisoners to be used as a human shield.

He was beaten in custody, convicted of terrorism by a Serb court and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Fearing he’d never leave jail alive, it was only when Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic was ousted in 2001 that he was let go.

What he found was a Kosovo free of Serb soldiers but stuck in a limbo he now likens to going from a “Serbian prison to an international hospital.” Now the strategically important nation, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, is at the center of a struggle for influence in the Balkans contested by Russia, the European Union, China and Turkey.

And it will probably be up to the bookish IT engineer, who has ditched his signature long hair and flannel shirt for a crisp suit and white pressed shirt, to turn the nation of 1.9 million around after his party won this month’s snap elections.

Kurti may be designated prime minister as early as this week, when his first task is to try to form a government. Then he’ll have to get to work trying mend ties with Serbia -- a key requirement to starting accession talks with the EU. But he’s a controversial choice.

As an anti-corruption crusader, he organized protests targeting the international administrators who oversaw Kosovo’s transition from war-torn territory to fledgling democracy. In 2007, two activists from his ethnic-Albanian party died and dozens were injured in a clash with United Nations police. Kurti, 44, was himself arrested and detained for nine months.

He’s also a fierce critic of both Kosovo President Hashim Thaci -- who comes from a rival political party -- and his Serb counterpart Aleksandar Vucic, calling them “authoritarian leaders.” He denounced them for trying to reach a secret reconciliation deal last year that he said could lead to more violence in Europe’s most volatile region.

Army Generals

The scars between Serbs and Kosovo’s Albanian majority run deep. The 1998-99 war killed 13,535 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more. Now Kosovo is recognized by the U.S. and most EU members. Five nations from the bloc joined Russia and China in siding with Serbia, which refuses to acknowledge Kosovo’s sovereignty.

That poses a hurdle for Kurti, who must now find a way sit down at a negotiating table with Thaci and Vucic. Also, unlike Thaci or former Premier Ramush Haradinaj, Kurti wasn’t a guerrilla fighter. And he wasn’t part of Milosevic’s close circle, while Vucic served as the late Serb leader’s information minister.

Kurti has been a harsh critic of the Brussels-mediated talks since they started in 2013, saying there’s little to negotiate apart from war damages from Serbia, which he says “owes us a lot.” And he staked out a tough position before the election, slamming a proposal from Thaci and Vucic to redraw borders so the neighbors can incorporate areas inhabited by their ethnic kin.

“No deals without dialog. No dialog with maps. No maps with presidents around who like to behave as army generals,” Kurti said in one of two interviews with Bloomberg.

After 2013, when Thaci and Vucic signed a framework agreement envisioning some autonomy for Serbs in Kosovo, Kurti’s party repeatedly disrupted parliament by setting off tear gas grenades. He also criticized Thaci and blamed the international community that helps to keep the small economy running for having “closed an eye and a half toward corruption and criminal matters.”

Giving Up Territory

When it comes to geopolitics, Kurti doesn’t mince words about who’s stoking tensions in the Balkans: It’s Vladimir Putin.

“That’s why we have to be very careful in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he is using Serbia as an instrument,” he said.

While he has spoken of needing to advance with the talks, he says Kosovo is in no rush to reach a deal. He’s sent mixed signals on how he now feels about a possible unification of Kosovo and Albania, which he used to champion. He remains adamant there should be no territorial exchanges with Serbia as part of a mutual-recognition deal.

“It’s wrong to give territory to Serbia,” he said in an interview in March. “The side that loses the war should give us some territory.”

Kurti thinks the EU needs to put together a mini Marshall plan for the region and take in all six Western Balkan nations that aren’t part of the bloc now.

“The EU is very important to us,” he said. If all six nations don’t become members “that would mean that they have learned nothing from history.”

--With assistance from Rosalind Mathieson.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jasmina Kuzmanovic in Zagreb at jkuzmanovic@bloomberg.net;Misha Savic in Belgrade at msavic2@bloomberg.net;Andrea Dudik in Prague at adudik@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey

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