Serbian military issues warning over Kosovo violence

Belgrade would not stand by if the ethnic Albanian authorities in Kosovo start killing or displacing Serbs in the breakaway region, Defense Minister Milos Vucevic has warned. The statement came amid heated protest by Serbs in Kosovo over mayoral elections in several towns, which they have described as a travesty.

Speaking to the public broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia on Wednesday, Vucevic assessed the risk of a violent escalation in the north of Kosovo as “big, probably the biggest possible.”

Kosovo’s prime minister, Albin Kurti, and his “unilateral, illegal, illegitimate decisions” are what led to the current tensions in the region, according to Vucevic. He also accused Pristina of denying ethnic Serbs their basic human rights and freedoms.

The minister pointed out that the Serbian military is “ready to carry out any task,” adding that Belgrade has defined any infringement against its “vital national and state interests” as a red line.

“We are talking about scenarios where, God forbid, someone kills Serbs, that physical liquidation begins of our people by the Kosovo police, the expulsion of Serbs,” the Serbian official clarified.

Vucevic emphasized that any such actions “would really be not only a red alarm, but also the moment when Serbia can’t just talk and sit idly by.”

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