SERBIA-KOSOVO – TELAM Agency
Serbia announced today that its Army units are spreading to take positions on the administrative line with Kosovo, amid renewed tensions and clashes in that area.
“The deployment of Serbian Army units towards the administrative line is taking place, we expect them to take up positions in the next few hours. We don’t want to play any war game, but the red lines for Serbia are known,” the Serbian Defense Minister said. , Milos Vucevic, quoted by the Sputnik news agency
The official stressed that the deployment of the units is taking place in accordance with the current situation, and that they will remain in their positions.
This new escalation of tensions derives from local elections held last month in the Kosovar municipalities of Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic in which the Serb community, the majority in the area, called for a boycott, which resulted in minimal participation and in the victory of representatives of parties linked to the Albanian minority.
Yesterday, the local Serb population gathered in front of the offices of the new authorities to prevent them from gaining access to their offices, which led to clashes with the security forces.
Police entered the Zvecan town hall and used tear gas and flash grenades, shots were also heard. In Leposavic the telephone communication was cut off.
Faced with this situation, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, who also exercises the function of commander of the Armed Forces, placed the Army on combat alert and ordered the deployment of troops near the border with Kosovo, a former Serbian province that in 2008 it proclaimed an independence that is still not officially recognized by about half of the member countries of the United Nations.
Kosovo is home to an estimated 120,000 Serbs, many of whom remain loyal to Belgrade, especially in the northern areas near the border, where there are frequent riots, demonstrations and occasional outbreaks of violence.
Source: Ambito
