Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has put his country’s army on high combat alert and ordered its units to approach the border with Kosovo, according to the Tanjug news agency.
This comes in light of the escalation of tension in the Serb-inhabited northern town of Kosovo. Pristina has accused the Belgrade authorities of escalation, while the United States described Kosovo’s actions as unnecessary escalation.
Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said he had issued orders to move his forces urgently to the Kosovo border; He added that it is clear that terrorism is targeting the Serb community, as he put it.
Vucic’s orders come after Serbs in the municipality of Zvecan, in northern Kosovo, clashed with police who were trying to help the town’s newly elected ethnic Albanian mayor enter his office.
The Serbs, who make up the majority of the region, also boycotted the local elections.
In this regard, local media reported that the Kosovo police fired tear gas canisters at the crowds that had gathered in front of the municipal building.
On the other hand, the chief of staff in the Kosovo Presidency, Bilrim Villa, held Serbia responsible for the escalation in the northern regions of Kosovo. He said in a tweet on Twitter that any attempt to infiltrate Serb soldiers in civilian clothes into the north of the country would endanger peace and stability in the region, and accused the Serbian regime of escalating the situation to ensure its survival.
European American condemnation
A joint statement by the United States, France, Italy, Germany and Britain condemned the Kosovo government’s decision to forcibly enter municipal buildings in northern Kosovo, and called on it to immediately retreat and stop what they described as an escalation, and urged it to coordinate with the European mission.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said earlier that he strongly condemns the measures taken by the Kosovo government to gain access to municipal buildings in northern Kosovo by force. He added that these measures were taken by Kosovo against the advice of the United States and Kosovo’s European partners.
Blinken indicated that these measures led to a sharp and unnecessary escalation of tensions, and also contributed to undermining efforts to help normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia, explaining that it would have consequences for the United States’ relations with Kosovo.
The European Union also condemned the clashes between demonstrators and police in northern Kosovo, and condemned the attacks on the EU’s civilian patrols.
confrontations
Today, violent confrontations broke out between the police and citizens of Serbian origin in the northern municipalities of Kosovo on the border with Serbia, and the Kosovo police said that it is carrying out its duties in accordance with the provisions of the law and the constitution in the country to maintain public security and safety.
The police added, in a statement, that it is taking measures and measures to prevent all criminal activities in the country and is providing assistance to the northern municipalities of Zvecan, Leposavik and Zubin Potok.
Video clips showed violent confrontations between the police and the demonstrators, who burned a number of cars and attacked police vehicles.
It is noteworthy that the Serbian president had pledged last March not to recognize the province of Kosovo at all, after refusing to sign an agreement endorsed by the European Union to normalize relations between the two former rivals.
The tensions in Kosovo between the authorities and the Serb minority bring back the specter of bloody war more than two decades ago. Will the current crisis situation, coupled with the effects of the Russian war in Ukraine, lead to a new war in the Balkans?
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