The occasion is the requirement for re-registration of the cars of Serbs living in Kosovo
Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo have risen sharply, and there have been clashes on the border this evening. Media in both countries reported sirens and gunfire. The Serbian newspaper “Today” reports that sirens are sounding in the center of Serb-populated North Mitrovica in Kosovo and Metodija. Citizens are urged to stay at home and stay away from windows. The Serbian army is on high alert, has closed some of the country’s roads and sent special forces to the border. In response, Kosovo’s special forces closed the border with Serbia. Local residents started building barricades along the Pristina-Leposavich highway and around the town of Zvecan in Kosovo.
In a special address, the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said that “policemen from the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo are planning to launch an operation against the Serbs who live in the northern part of the country at midnight.” He claimed that the Kosovo authorities would bar the entry of citizens with Serbian documents and require them to re-register their cars to have Kosovo plates. “I think we have never been in a more complicated and difficult situation. Why am I saying this? The regime in Pristina is trying to present itself as a victim, using the mood of the world,” said Vucic.
He added that he was “begging for peace” from the Albanian representatives in Kosovo and the international community, but added that if this plea was not heard, “Serbia will win”.
As of August 1, the government in Kosovo has started implementing a decision to re-register Serbian-issued cars with Kosovo license plates bearing the designation RKS (Republic of Kosovo).
At a press conference in Belgrade today, Vucic said he wanted to ask everyone, including Serbs in Kosovo, not to do anything that could lead to conflict.
“But I ask the representatives of the powerful and strong countries that recognized the independence of Kosovo to take into account the international law and the situation on the ground and not allow their wards to cause conflict. This is my big request. We will pray for peace and we will strive for peace,” stressed Vucic, quoted by BTA. He added that otherwise “we will not surrender and Serbia will win”. “If they dare to persecute Serbs, mistreat, kill Serbs, Serbia will win. That’s all I have to say,” Vucic pointed out.
In 2011, Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement under which Kosovo authorities would issue license plates marked “RKS” (Republic of Kosovo), or just “KS” (Kosovo) as a concession to Serbia’s refusal to recognize its former province as a state , the website “Bolkan Insight” reminds.
The move was intended to encourage Serbs in northern Kosovo to start using Kosovo-issued numbers. In 2016, Kosovo extended the validity of KS numbers for another five years and declared Serbian-issued license plates for Kosovo cities illegal.
However, in the municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo, where the majority of the population is Serbian, it has always been possible to drive cars with license plates marked KM (Kosovo and Metohija) issued by the Ministry of Interior of Serbia.
Rushers
Even before the situation was clear, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia issued a special statement in which it called Kosovo’s decision to replace Serbian documents on the territory of the country “unfounded and discriminatory.”
“Kosovo’s leaders know that the Nama Serbs will stand idly by when it comes to a direct attack on their freedoms, and are deliberately escalating the situation to trigger the force scenario. Of course, the target is Belgrade, whom the West wants to further “neutralize” with Kosovo-Albanian hands… We call on Pristina and the US and EU behind it to end the provocation and respect the rights of the Serbs in Kosovo,” the statement said.
Overdose
One of the members of the ruling party in Serbia – Vladimir Bukanovic, directly talked about the denazification of Kosovo. On Twitter, he wrote: “Serbs, as the biggest victim of Nazism, unlike their neighbors who welcomed the Nazis as liberators, have the capacity to help anyone who wants to denazify…”
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