Serbia to ask NATO to deploy Serb military, police in Kosovo: Vucic
3 Min Read
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says that his country will ask NATO peacekeepers to let it deploy Serbian military and police in Kosovo.
-
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during arrivals for the EU-Western Balkans Summit, in Tirana, Albania, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022 (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
Serbia will send the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) mission command a formal request for authorization to deploy Serbian military and police in Kosovo, despite the likeliness of being rejected, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday.
"In accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244, we will send a request to the KFOR commander to arrange for the deployment of the Serbian army and police contingent in Kosovo and Metohija," Vucic said while addressing the nation and reading out the relevant paragraph of the Security Council resolution.
The official decision on sending the request to the KFOR command will be made on Monday, Vucic said.
"Of course, I have no illusions, and I know that they will deny this request. And I'm telling you that in advance," Vucic stressed, noting that it was still necessary to try.
Serbs build barricades in Northern Kosovo over arrest of ex-policeman
Serbs in Kosovo's northern part are blocking roads using barricades to protest the arrest of former police officer Dejan Pantic, the Vecernje Novosti newspaper reported on Saturday.
In mid-November, the ex-policeman quit his post along with other ethnic Serbs who work as law enforcers in Kosovo. He was arrested earlier on Saturday at the Jarinje border crossing.
Reports say that local residents have assembled at the village of Leposavic's entrance and exit, while several hundred gathered in Rudare and Srbovac, and they are building barricades, as per the newspaper.
Check out: Explainer: The Kosovo-Serbia tension
Kosovar authorities were constantly increasing police forces' presence in the Serb-populated northern part of Kosovo, escalating the situation in a dangerous way, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said on Friday.
Meanwhile, Petar Petkovic, the head of Serbia's office for Kosovo and Metohija said that Belgrade would consider returning up to 1,000 soldiers of its security forces to Kosovo and Metohija under the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 because of Pristina's controversial actions.
The negotiations with the Kosovo authorities in Brussels on postponing the controversial measures of Pristina were fruitless, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on last month.
A summit for Belgrade and Pristina was held by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell amid the escalation in Kosovo, despite Vucic's pessimism that a deal could be reached. The President and Prime Minister of Kosovo and the EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak attended the summit.
