The deployment of Serbian troops on the Kosovo border is reminiscent of Russia’s behavior towards Ukraine before its invasion, the Kosovo Foreign Minister, Donika Gervalla-Schwarz, denounced this Monday, urging the European Union to take measures against Belgrade, as freeze your candidate membership status.
The warning comes after the United States said on Friday it was monitoring a worrying Serbian military buildup along the Kosovo border that is destabilizing the area, and NATO said it was authorizing additional peacekeepers for Kosovo.
“There has never been this kind of troop concentration in recent years,” Gervalla-Schwarz said in an interview with German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk on Monday. “The weapons they have there, the tanks, give us a bad feeling because we don’t know how the international community will respond,” she said.
The minister said it was not just about the concentration of troops on the edge of her former southern province, whose independence Belgrade does not recognize, but also about Serbia’s rhetoric and “methods”, which resemble Russian behavior towards Ukraine. . “That’s why it’s even more important to take the necessary steps,” she said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said last week he had no intention of ordering his forces to cross the border into Kosovo because an escalation of the conflict would damage Belgrade’s aspirations to join the EU.
Tensions have risen between the two countries since a clash between Kosovo police and armed Kosovo Serbs hiding in a monastery turned a quiet village in northern Kosovo into a virtual war zone 10 days ago.
The Kosovo minister reiterated her Government’s accusations that Belgrade orchestrated the paramilitary attack on the 24th in which a Kosovo police officer and three assailants died.
The Government of Kosovo assured on Sunday that the attack was prepared and rehearsed in central Serbia, in a large military camp of the Serbian Army. “Vucic tried to hide the fact that Serbia has been involved in organizing this attack,” Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said at a news conference in Pristina.
The objective of the attack was to cause widespread disorders in Kosovo to facilitate an annexation of the northern part of the country by Serbia, stated the Kosovo Minister of the Interior, an accusation that was reaffirmed today by the Kosovo Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, in his X account ( formerly Twitter).
“Kosovar Police have confirmed that the terrorist attack was part of a broader plan to annex northern Kosovo through a coordinated attack against 37 different positions. A corridor to Serbia would then be established to allow the supply of weapons and troops,” Kurti assured.
The Kosovo head of government also published, on the same social network, drone images that supposedly show the training of paramilitaries in Serbia before the attack, and assured that the assault took place with the full support and planning of the Serbian State.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 following a guerrilla uprising and NATO intervention in 1999. Serbia accuses Kosovo of precipitating violence by failing to implement a decade-old EU-brokered agreement that provides for local autonomy for the Serbs in an area in the north of the country where they form a majority.
“Vucic will not stay like this if clear words are not said and he sees no consequences for his actions,” Gervalla-Schwarz warned, noting that this could include the suspension of EU funds for Serbia and the country’s candidacy status as a member. .
