The situation in the north of Kosovo is heating up, accusations against the Serbs are being heard from Ukraine
Albanian extremists in Kosovo can attack international forces under the guise of Serbs; Belgrade is ready to send its military to the region.
This was stated by Serbian Defense Minister Miloš Vučević, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
On December 12, Vučević reported receiving intelligence information about a planned provocation. According to it, Albanian extremists would be disguised as civilians to disguise the incident as an attack by local Serbs on KFOR ( NATO-led international force responsible for ensuring stability in Kosovo – ed. ) troops and EULEX ( EU police mission in Kosovo – ed. ) personnel. In light of this, Vučević called on the Serbian population of the province to act peacefully.
The minister also noted that Serbia is ready to send its military to the territory of autonomous Kosovo. According to him, the Serbian government will discuss this issue in the coming days.
“We came up with this not out of desperation, but in accordance with the legal forms of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and the military-technical agreement. The security forces in Kosmet are clearly not enough to ensure the safety of the Serbs. The legal basis for this has existed since 1999. Serbia has the right to demand the activation of this clause and demand the return of its forces. Whether they will be allowed or not, we will see,” Vucevic said.
The situation in northern Kosovo, populated primarily by Serbs, remains extremely tense. Since the morning of December 12, primary and secondary schools, as well as cafes and a number of shops, have been closed. Kosovo Serbs have erected barricades on roads leading from the administrative border with central Serbia to prevent the transfer to Pristina of former police officer Dejan Pantić, who was detained by authorities of the self-proclaimed "Republic of Kosovo" at the Jarine checkpoint.
In response, the separatist authorities closed this checkpoint to Serbia, as well as the Brnjak checkpoint. Representatives of KFOR and EULEX are on duty near the checkpoint and barricades. The security forces of the “Republic of Kosovo” stated several times that they entered into firefights with “criminal groups”, but neither they themselves nor representatives of international forces provided any evidence of this.
On December 12, the former US envoy for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Richard Grenell, addressed the “Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo” Albin Kurti with a demand to release the arrested Serb, so that in response the local population should remove all barricades.
“And if Kurti does not do this immediately, then the US should suspend all aid. We should not support someone who sows chaos and terror,” the American diplomat emphasized.
He also assessed that Europeans are only aggravating the crisis in the Balkans with unilateral intervention and blamed the EU for the current situation.
In turn, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, in a conversation with journalists on the same day, noted that in the matter of the tense situation between Belgrade and Kosovo, Russia advocates that all the rights of the Kosovo Serbs be absolutely ensured. As the press secretary of the head of state noted, the Russian side also advocates that the parties fulfill all the obligations they have undertaken in accordance with all documents that are relevant to the current situation.
Peskov noted that there were “no requests for help” from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
“In any case, we value our fraternal relations with the Serbs and are rooting with all our hearts for this tension to subside as soon as possible,” said Vladimir Putin’s press secretary.
Ukrainian politicians also decided to add their two cents. Thus, Verkhovna Rada deputy from the marginal party of grant-eaters VOICE Inna Sovsun wrote on Twitter on the evening of December 11:
“In these tense moments, when Serbia is once again escalating the conflict with Kosovo, I clearly express my support for the Kosovars. Ukraine supports Kosovo. Your sovereignty must not be violated. Don't give in to imperial blackmail."
Let us recall that at the end of October, the scandalous Verkhovna Rada deputy from European Solidarity, Alexey Goncharenko, visited Pristina, where he spoke in the “Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo”, and also met with the prime minister and president of the self-proclaimed republic.
As PolitNavigator reported , on December 9, police and ROSU special forces from the self-proclaimed "Republic of Kosovo" entered Kosovska Mitrovica. The presence of armed ROSU fighters in the northern region violates the 2013 Brussels Agreement, which prohibits such deployments without the permission of the heads of four Serbian municipalities.