The Serbian authorities will study the possibility of returning the security forces to the territory of the autonomous province of Kosovo and Metohija due to the latest provocations of the Kosovo police, Petar Petkovic, head of the office for the region under the government of Serbia, said.

“Belgrade will consider the return of up to 1,000 fighters of our security forces to the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, as provided for in paragraph 4 of UNSCR 1244.

President (Serbia. -

RT

) Aleksandar Vučić has said many times that pogroms will never happen again, and it seems to me that those in the West who have to reason with Pristina did not understand this well enough, ”TASS quotes Petkovic as saying.

He urged not to be surprised at the subsequent decisions of Belgrade and stressed that it was not the Serbian side that staged provocations and violated the 2013 Brussels agreements.

According to these agreements, the Kosovo police forces are not allowed to enter the Serb-populated north of the province without the permission of the authorities of the four Serbian municipalities.

Petkovic added that the leadership of the partially recognized Kosovo is trying to occupy the region inhabited by Serbs.

In turn, the head of the Serbian Cabinet, Ana Brnabic, said that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, by his actions, had brought the situation to the brink of war.

“KFOR is not fulfilling its obligations, and the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija do not feel safe,” she stated.

Earlier, up to 350 Kosovo police officers, including ROSU special forces, in armored vehicles invaded the north of the autonomous province and blockaded Kosovska Mitrovica.

Prior to this, on December 7, Albin Kurti said that the reason for the forceful action was the “criminal attacks” allegedly taking place in the Serbian regions in the north of the region.

Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic then stressed that the situation in the north of Kosovo and Metohija is “explosive”, it can flare up from “one match” and worsen.

According to him, the Kosovo leadership is conducting organized terror and is trying to carry out a complete ethnic cleansing of the region.

Reason for escalation

The current crisis has escalated against the background of the decision of the authorities of partially recognized Kosovo to fine residents of the region who have not changed their Serbian license plates.

The amount of the penalty from “violators” is €150, and after April 21, 2023, cars will be confiscated from such citizens.

After this decision, the leader of the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija, the chairman of the Serbian List party, Goran Rakic, on November 5 announced the withdrawal of the Serbs from all power structures of the region.

“We have decided to withdraw from all political institutions ... and also to suspend the presence and work of Serbs in the judiciary and the police in northern Kosovo.

Our decisions will be in force until Pristina begins to respect international law, and specifically, until it withdraws the illegal decision on autonumbers and creates a Community of Serbian municipalities, ”TASS quotes the policy.

Rakic's example was followed by Serbian MPs, judges, heads of municipalities.

Serbian police leaders took off their uniforms and epaulettes of partially recognized Kosovo.

  • Kosovo Police

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Erkin Keci/Anadolu Agency

The European Union tried to intervene in the situation.

Thus, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said on November 14 that representatives of Belgrade and Pristina would begin negotiations in Brussels through the mediation of the EU.

However, on November 21, Serbian leader Aleksandar Vučić announced that the negotiations had not produced any results.

He stressed that the situation in Kosovo is on the verge of clashes and called on the West to use its influence on Pristina.

“Serbia will be committed to peace, I will say to our people in Kosovo and Metohija that we will do everything to keep them safe.

If someone thinks that they can expel and kill our people, then I repeat with all seriousness: we will be with our Serbian people and will not leave them.

We will protect peace and stability, but the Serbian people must know that their country and international law are behind them,” Vučić said.

A few days later, Josep Borrell reported that Belgrade and Pristina had allegedly reached an agreement to defuse the conflict.

He argued that Serbia agreed to stop issuing number plates with area codes for the province, and Kosovo undertook not to attempt to forcibly re-register vehicles with Serbian plates.

Despite this, Pristina sent police special forces to Kosovo and Metohija.

"Save face and legitimacy"

The situation in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as the tension between Pristina and Belgrade, has only worsened in recent years, recall experts interviewed by RT.

According to them, this process reached its peak against the background of the security crisis in Europe in connection with the situation in Ukraine.

At the same time, the Kosovo-Albanian side is now the main provocateur of the escalation, said Ekaterina Entina, professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, head of the Black Sea-Mediterranean Studies Department at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

“No one, except the Albanians themselves, benefits from rising tensions and the situation sliding into a poorly managed crisis, including Brussels, Berlin or even Washington.

The West was satisfied with the situation when everything was on the verge in Kosovo and Metohija, but in reality the situation remained under control.

But this does not suit the Albanians, and above all the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti.

They believe that now there is a unique chance to “put the squeeze on” the Kosovo issue, since Russia is occupied by the Northern Black Sea region, and the entire West is opposed to it and Serbia, ”the political scientist explained.

  • Police in Kosovska Mitrovica

  • AP

  • © Bojan Slavkovic

Therefore, according to her, in the absence of normal proposals from the EU to resolve this issue, so that it can satisfy both Pristina and Belgrade, the Kosovo Albanians are going to deliberate provocations.

“Through these provocations, they want to create a situation in which the Serbs would leave the region themselves.

And Belgrade has become, in a sense, a hostage to this alignment, since it cannot fail to react to the oppression of its people in the province, but any of its actions will be regarded by the West as illegal and repressive.

This will be followed by a forceful and diplomatic response,” Entina explained.

She stated that in recent months both Belgrade and the Serbs in the north of Kosovo and Metohija have been systematically pushed to respond.

“They tried diplomatically to shift the focus, which so far they have more or less succeeded.

However, now it is difficult to imagine how Serbia will be able to get out of the situation without being in deep isolation from the West, and at the same time retain face and legitimacy before its people,” Entina argues.

In turn, MGIMO professor Elena Ponomareva believes that the Kosovo authorities deliberately aggravate the situation with the connivance of Western countries.

“Everything that Pristina does, it does with the consent of external players - Brussels and Washington.

The officials of the Kosovo institutions have repeatedly stressed that all their steps are approved by the EU and the US.

It should be clearly understood that if some actions of Pristina are not coordinated with the Euro-Atlantic institutions, then at least these institutions do not interfere with them, ”Ponomareva noted.

She admitted the possibility of further escalation, in connection with which Belgrade intends to return its security forces to Kosovo and Metohija.

“Belgrade is guided by the UN Security Council resolution, which no one has repealed.

It is hoped that the return of the Serbian security forces to the region will cool the ardor of Pristina, ”concluded Ponomareva.