Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has put the country’s army on high alert after rising tensions in neighboring Kosovo in recent weeks. The aim of the order to the army was “to protect all Serbian citizens and to prevent pogroms and terror against Serbs,” said Defense Minister Milos Vučević.
Already on Sunday evening, President Vučić is said to have ordered the commander-in-chief of the armed forces to the border area. The situation at the border is “complicated and complex” and will require “the presence of the Serbian army in the coming period,” several media reports.
Belgrade considers Kosovo a breakaway territory
The largest Serbian community outside of Serbia lives in northern Kosovo. Kosovo, with its majority Albanian population, declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but is still considered a breakaway territory by Belgrade. Despite mediation efforts by the EU, the neighboring countries have been at odds for years. Belgrade is encouraging the Serb minority in their attempts to defy the authority of Pristina, the capital of Kosovo. In addition, ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo are demanding the release of several members of their community who are being held by the government.
Tensions flared earlier this year when the Kosovan government tried to push through new rules requiring Serbs living in Kosovo to use car registration plates and ID documents issued by the government in Pristina rather than Belgrade. The government increased police presence in the northern region, where Serb protesters have been blocking roads for nearly two weeks.
Serbia has meanwhile asked the NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR for permission to station troops to protect the Serb population in Kosovo. Meanwhile, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused Serbia of instigating the unrest and ruled out autonomy for local Serbs. Serbian officials insist some degree of self-government for the minority is part of an EU-brokered deal.
Kurti speaks of “illegal structures and criminal activities” as the cause of the recent incidents
“The situation in the north of the country and the recent incidents stem from illegal structures and criminal activities coordinated and supported by the Serbian government,” Kurti’s government wrote in a Dec. 26 emailed statement.
In view of the situation, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić recently warned of an escalation of the situation. Both countries are “really on the brink of armed conflict,” she feared.
Just the day before, several shots had been fired near a NATO patrol. No one was injured when the shots were heard in the Zubin Potok area, the KFOR security force said on Sunday. The Kosovo Force, or KFOR for short, is the NATO-led multinational military formation set up in 1999 after the end of the Kosovo War.