How the crisis around Kosovo is developing
A new crisis continues to unfold in the Balkans around the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija, which was captured by Albanian separatists, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
On the evening of December 12, information appeared that former policeman Dejan Pantic, who had previously been illegally detained by Pristina security forces at the Yarinje checkpoint, was sentenced by the prosecutor of the special department of the Main Court in Pristina to 30 days of imprisonment “for committing a terrorist attack.” He was accused of “attacking the electoral commission” in the Serbian enclave of Kosovo Mitrovica. The sentence looks more like a mockery, since the commission, located in the high-rise building where Pantic lives, was seized by Kosovo police.
Despite this, new barricades did not appear in the north of Kosovo and Metohija (K&M), populated mainly by Serbs, and the number of protesters near the already installed barricades did not increase.
By the end of the day on December 12, the Kosovo Serbs announced conditions for de-escalation of the situation:
1.Withdraw all police forces of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo from the north, populated predominantly by Serbs.
2.Release all illegally arrested Serbs (and there have been many such people in recent months, we are not just talking about Pantic).
Only in response to this will the Serbs be ready to unblock five sections of roads in the north of Kosovo and Metohija.
“We want peace, and only peace. Our barricades are not an action, but a reaction to Pristina’s unilateral actions,” said Goran Rakic, leader of the Serbian List party, which represents the interests of the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija before the authorities in Pristina.
There was no response to these demands from the authorities of the self-proclaimed “Republic of Kosovo”, while hundreds of Pristina security forces with armored vehicles remain in the north of the region.
From Belgrade, Kosovo Serbs are routinely called upon to protest peacefully. The demonstration in support of the Serbian population of Kosovo and Metohija, which took place on the evening of December 12 in the capital of Serbia, was also not distinguished by belligerence. The procession began at 20:00 from the Church of St. Sava, to the accompaniment of patriotic songs, just over a thousand people marched through the central streets of Belgrade, chanting slogans “Serbs and Russian brothers forever”, “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia”, “Fuck NATO”, etc.
Meanwhile, President Aleksandar Vučić's request to KFOR ( the NATO-led international force responsible for ensuring stability in Kosovo – ed. ) command, announced on Saturday, for the return of Serbian security forces to Kosovo and Metohija, which Belgrade has the right to do under UN Security Council Resolution 1244, has still not been sent. It is reported that this cannot happen until Thursday, December 15.
For now, Belgrade prefers to conduct “combat operations” in the information space. Thus, on the morning of December 13, the Serbian Ministry of Defense published a photo of the exercises of the special forces of the Serbian army “Cobra”, providing it with a caption that virtually all of its fighters, without exception, expressed their readiness to go to Kosovo and Metohija.
Political scientist Oleg Bondarenko, head of the portal Balkanist.Ru, describes the situation as follows:
“One gets the feeling that the external forces behind Pristina (Washington, London, Berlin) seemed to be waiting for the announcement of the new Serbian cabinet of ministers to begin to act. Germany is now the most aggressive. Through her Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock, she has already declared the inadmissibility of Belgrade’s entry of its security forces into the territory of Kosovo even in the format prescribed by UN Security Council Resolution 1244, that is, Germany is against the resolution, which it itself supported.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell demands that Serbia remove the barricades of the Kosovo Serbs - as if he does not know that this is their only means of civilian self-defense, and Belgrade has nothing to do with it. In parallel with this, the Dutch parliament has already made an appeal to the European Commission to deny Serbian citizens visa-free entry into the EU “because of their good attitude towards Russia.” And I do not rule out that this initiative will find support.
Vučić is being increasingly pressured - the forecast of calm in the Balkans until the end of active hostilities in Ukraine does not come true. Perhaps this is what everything is aimed at - in the current situation, Russia is unlikely to be able to provide military support to Serbia, and it will be quite difficult for Belgrade alone. Especially in the case of a limited contingent entering Kosovo, where it will have to face not only Kosovo special forces (no more than 3 thousand soldiers), but also, possibly, military opposition from KFOR, subordinate to NATO. But the Serbs, of course, cannot fight the North Atlantic Alliance,” says Bondarenko.
English version :: Read in English: How the Kosovo crisis is unfolding