SERBIAN ARMY ON KOSOVO BORDER IN STATE OF ‘COMBAT READINESS’

Tue 27 December 2022:

Senior authorities have stated that Serbia has deployed its security forces to Kosovo’s border in a “full state of combat readiness,” despite requests from the European Union and NATO for the two former rivals to de-escalate tensions.

Serbian Defence Minister Milos Vucevic said in a statement late on Monday that the country’s president has “ordered the Serbian army to be on the highest level of combat readiness, that is to the level of the use of armed force,”

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The aim is to protect the territorial integrity of Serbia, he said.

“It raises us to the highest level of action carried out by the Serbian Army, protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia and protecting all citizens of Serbia and preventing terrorism and terror against Serbs wherever they live,” said Vucevic.

Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said Vucic also ordered security forces within the ministry to be at full combat readiness.

“I have ordered the full combat readiness of all units of the ministry… as soon as they are placed under the command of the Chief of General Staff and occupy the designated positions operational plan,” said Gasic.

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Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo

Kosovo, predominantly inhabited by Albanians, broke from Serbia in 1999 and declared independence in 2008. But Serbia has not recognized the move and sees its former province as part of its territory.

Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have escalated since the detention of former Serbian police officer Dejan Pantic.

Reacting to Pantic’s detention, Kosovo Serbs have been standing guard at barricades they set up at the Jarinje and Bernjak border crossings since Dec. 10.

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The European Union, NATO and the US have called for de-escalation and the removal of barricades in northern Kosovo, while Serbia has requested to deploy its army and police based on a UN resolution.

Fears of violence have soared since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The United States and most EU countries have recognised Kosovo’s independence, while Serbia has relied on Russia and China in its bid to maintain claim on its former province.

The rising tensions involve several issues amid international efforts to step up mediation efforts. Most recently, ethnic Serbs in the north put up roadblocks in protest of an arrest of a former Serb police officer.

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Kosovo’s government has asked NATO troops — deployed in 1999 after NATO bombed Serbia into leaving Kosovo — to remove the Serb roadblocks. Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti, KFOR commander Major General Angelo Michele Ristuccia and Lars-Gunnar Wigermark, who heads an EU law and order mission, met on Monday to discuss the situation, KFOR said on Twitter.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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