Status: 27.12.2022 07:50 a.m
Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo are increasing again. After shots were fired near Serbian road blockades in Kosovo, Serbia has put its troops on the border with the neighboring republic on “highest combat readiness”.
Serbia has put its security forces on the border with Kosovo on high combat readiness amid rising tensions. Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said he issued the order to the police and other units on orders from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. The aim is “to take all measures to protect the Serbian people in Kosovo”.
The security forces were placed under the command of Chief of Staff Milan Mojsilovic, it said. The situation is serious and requires the “presence of the Serbian armed forces along the administrative border” with Kosovo, Mojsilovic is quoted as saying by state broadcaster RTS.
What the alert means is unclear
What the order means on the ground was initially unclear, especially since the Serbian troops on the border have been on the alert for some time. Serbia lost control of Kosovo after NATO intervention in 1999, which halted a bloody Serbian crackdown on Kosovar Albanian aspirations for independence.
However, the government in Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo’s declaration of sovereignty from 2008 and sees the Serbs in Kosovo as being harassed by the majority Albanian population.
Road blockades and night shots
Shots were fired on Sunday evening in the town of Zubin Potok in northern Kosovo, where Serbs recently set up roadblocks. The NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR said the incident happened near one of its patrols.
No one was injured by the shots, however, and KFOR had started investigations, it said. Nonetheless, Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic and Chief of Staff Mojsilovic traveled near the Kosovo border, where they praised the troops’ combat readiness and firepower.
Dispute over license plates settled
Tensions on the border with Serbia have increased again in recent months. Hundreds of Kosovo Serbs have been blocking traffic in northern Kosovo for weeks.
A dispute over license plates was only settled at the end of November. Many of the Serbs living in the north of Kosovo had continued to use the now invalid license plates from the time when the region still belonged to Serbia. However, the Kosovo government had insisted on changing the license plates, which prompted all Serb-born Kosovan police officers to resign in protest.