Serbia is trying to destabilize the situation in Kosovo. To do this, Belgrade supports the rebellions of the Serb minority in the Kosovo settlements.
Kosovo's Minister of the Interior, Celal Švechla, said that this intensification by Serbia is connected with Russia. He said this on December 27, that is, after Serbia put its army on alert and prepared howitzers.
What Kosovo said about Serbia
It is Serbia, under the influence of Russia, that has raised the state of military readiness and orders the erection of new barricades to justify and protect the criminal gangs that terrorize citizens of Serbian ethnicity living in Kosovo. – said the minister.
The Kremlin mouthpiece Dmitry Peskov was not slow to say that Moscow supports Serbia in its actions on the situation in Kosovo.
In Serbia, these accusations are denied, explaining that the country wants to protect their minority in Kosovo. In particular, their President Vučić said that Belgrade: “…will continue to fight for peace and seek compromise solutions.”
Pay attention!Serbs and Albanians live in Kosovo, the decision to declare independence from Serbia was made by the partially recognized state in 2008. The country is not part of NATO, but there is a contingent of Alliance peacekeepers there. According to KFOR, it has approximately 4,000 military personnel.
What is happening in the region: the main thing
- In the evening of December 26, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that all the country's defense forces were put on alert – 1, 5 thousand Serbian special forces and all units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
- Then the Serbian Minister of Defense stated that they aimed to protect their own territorial integrity and sovereignty, protecting the Serbs from terror, wherever they lived.
- Subsequently, it became known that Vučić and the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces visited part of the army units in the Rasko garrison. After inspection by officials, the howitzers were returned to the barracks.
- Already on December 28, barricades rose in the city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. The Serbs built them right in the city. Kosovo asked the NATO peacekeeping force KFOR to remove the fence, hinting that they could do it themselves.
- It should be noted that this time the escalation is to blame due to the decision of Pristina to hold early elections in the northern municipalities of Kosovo with a predominantly Serbian population.
- Elections in four regions of Kosovo were decided after the pro-Serb party announced a boycott of the authorities. This also happened after the unrest that arose due to Kosovo's decision to switch to its own documents and license plates.
