The conflict over Kosovo
Serbia prepares troops for war
Expansion between Serbia and Kosovo. According to Serbian media, Belgrade put the armed forces on high alert on Monday evening – “ready to use armed force”. It is called “For the Protection of Serbian Citizens”.
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This photo released by the Belgrade Defense Ministry shows Serbian military howitzers near the border with Kosovo on Monday, Dec. 26, 2022.
Escalating situation in the Western Balkans: Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić (52) has put the Serbian armed forces and all units on the highest level of combat readiness. As Serbian Defense Minister Miloš Vucevic said on Monday evening “politics” and other Serbian media reports in the evening.
“The Serbian President, as Commander-in-Chief, ordered this evening that the Serbian Armed Forces be on the highest combat readiness, that is, on readiness until the use of armed forces,” Vucevic was quoted as saying. The defense minister said the purpose of the order to the army was to “protect all Serbian civilians and prevent massacres and terrorism against Serbs”.
Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Kecic explained that the order would place the police and all security forces under the command of the Chief of Staff and “occupy the positions provided for in the deployment plan.”
The situation is gradually deteriorating
The president’s order is said to be in response to Pristina’s move to ban Serbian patriarch Porfirius (61) from entering the country. “After the Albanians armed themselves and increased their combat readiness,” Vucic considered it necessary to take all measures to protect the Serbian population, the news agency quoted him as saying. Tanjak.
President Vucic had already ordered the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to the border area on Sunday evening. The situation on the border is “difficult and complex” and will require the “presence of the Serbian army in the near future,” the Serbian general staff said.
“On the Brink of Armed Conflict”
Kosovo, with its majority Albanian population, declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 but is still considered a breakaway territory by Belgrade. Despite mediation efforts by the European Union, the neighbors have been at odds for years. Belgrade encourages the Serb minority in northern Kosovo to try to challenge Pristina’s authority.
Tensions have risen again in recent weeks along the border with Serbia. Hundreds of Kosovo Serbs have been blocking traffic in northern Kosovo for weeks. Nighttime shootings of police officers and a stun grenade attack on EU mission EULEX caused international concern.
Given the rising tensions in northern Kosovo, Serbia’s Prime Minister Ana Brnabic (47) recently warned that the situation could escalate. The two countries are “actually on the brink of armed conflict,” he said. Brnabic blamed the government in Pristina for the tensions. (CAS/SDA)
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