“The president of Serbia (…) has ordered the Serbian army to be at the highest level of combat readiness, that is, at the level of the use of armed force,” Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said in a statement.
The Serbian army was on high alert last Monday night following recent tensions in neighboring Kosovo, where gunfire, explosions and barricades were erected.
“The president of Serbia (…) has ordered the Serbian army to be at the highest level of combat readiness, that is, at the level of the use of armed force,” Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said in a statement.
General Milan Mojilovic, head of the Serbian armed forces, announced that he had been sent by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to the border with Kosovo.
“The situation there is complicated,” the chief of staff told Pink TV on Sunday night while en route to Raska, ten kilometers from the border with Kosovo.
He added that the situation requires “the presence of the Serbian army along the administrative line”, a term used by the Serbian authorities for the border with Kosovo.
The Serbian interior minister also said that “all units” will come “immediately under the command of the chief of the general staff”.
Finally, the Minister of Defense clarified that the head of state ordered the Serbian military presence to be increased by 1,500 soldiers, to 5,000.
Hundreds of Kosovo’s 120,000 Serbs have erected barricades in northern Kosovo since December 10 to protest the arrest of a Serbian ex-policeman, paralyzing traffic to two border crossings with Serbia.
Shortly before General Mojilovic left for the border zone, Serbian media released a video on social media showing gunfire and claiming it was “battles” that took place early in the evening when Kosovar forces tried to dismantle a roadblock. .
This information was immediately denied by the Kosovo police, which claims on its Facebook page that its officers did not participate in any exchange of fire.
The media in Pristina claimed instead that a patrol of the NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR) was in the zone of fire.
Kosovar Interior Minister Jelai Svetsia claimed that the KFOR patrol was attacked.
For its part, KFOR announced that it was investigating a shooting “on December 25 near a patrol of the NATO mission in Kosovo.”
“There were no injuries or property damage,” KFOR said in the statement.
In early November, hundreds of Serb police officers embedded in the Kosovo police, as well as judges, prosecutors and other public officials, walked off the job en masse to protest a decision – now suspended – by the Pristina government to ban Serbs living in Kosovo to use license plates issued by Serbia.
The situation in Kosovo is “on the brink of armed conflict,” Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said last week.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
