The EU Rule of Law Mission EULEX and the OSCE are turning a blind eye to the actions of the authorities of the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo, who are carrying out military actions in the territories populated by Serbs in the province, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

In his address to the citizens, he showed photographs showing soldiers of the Kosovo police special forces in the north of the region in heavy equipment and with automatic weapons.

“They say that they arrived to protect someone in multinational areas, but there no one attacked anyone.

Why are you lying?

But it was not difficult for them to convince EULEX, ”RIA Novosti quoted Vucic as saying.

The Serbian leader recalled that the Kosovo security forces had previously tried to seize the buildings of several municipal election commissions, and the armored vehicles of the NATO KFOR mission and the Kosovo police deliberately parked in the courtyard of a Serbian kindergarten in the village of Leposavich in the north of the region, which alarmed children and parents.

In addition, Vucic said that the Kosovo Albanian authorities carried out a forceful action in the oldest Serbian winery "Petrovich" in Velika Hocha in the south-west of the region, seizing and destroying more than 40 thousand liters of wine.

Later, the President emphasized that Pristina is obliged to comply with all agreements reached earlier and behave in accordance with international law.

This, he said, "is the only way to start normalizing relations."

  • Alexander Vucic

  • AP

  • © Andrea Alexandru

Earlier, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and EU inaction led to the current situation, when Albanians and Serbs were on the brink of war.

Commenting on these words, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, noted: “Well, why is there “inaction”.

This is exactly the situation that the European Union, in fact, has been modeling for years.”

Crisis escalation

Recall that on December 6, the Kosovo security forces entered the north of the region, inhabited mainly by Serbs.

Police special forces ROSU carried out a forcible seizure of election commissions and the administration of the cities of Zubin Potok and Kosovska Mitrovica.

On December 7, Albin Kurti said that the “criminal attacks” allegedly taking place in Serbian regions were the reason for the forceful action, and promised to strengthen the police presence in the region.

After that, local media reported that several hundred special forces in armored vehicles invaded the territory of the autonomous region, blocking the northern part of the city of Kosovska Mitrovica.

The media were informed about explosions and smoke in various parts of the city.

Kosovo security forces later detained a Serbian police officer who resigned in November in protest against the government's actions.

The Serbs began to build barricades in the north of the province, and the Kosovo police, according to media reports, blocked the entrance to the region through the Yarine checkpoint for cars and pedestrians from Central Serbia.

Brussels, in turn, called on the Serbs living in the north of Kosovo and Metohija to remove the barricades.

“The EU will not tolerate attacks on the EULEX mission in Kosovo or violent, criminal activities in the north.

Barricades must be removed immediately by Kosovo Serb groups,” Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy, tweeted, adding that “all involved must avoid escalation.”

Albin Kurti on Sunday appealed to the KFOR contingent with a request to eliminate the barricades in the north of the region.

Meanwhile, as reported by the Serbian media, ROSU fighters occupied the dam of the Gazivode hydroelectric power station.

The commandos expelled the guard on duty from the building and tore down the Serbian flags.

Belgrade reacted to these actions.

As Petar Petkovic, director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija under the Serbian government, wrote on Twitter on December 11, the EU must restrain the Kosovo prime minister from steps that could provoke clashes.

“I just informed (EU Special Representative for the Western Balkans. -

RT

) Miroslav Lajchak about the armed and illegal invasion of the ROSU special forces at Gazivoda.

The keys were taken away from the guards, Serbian flags were torn.

The EU must restrain the oppressor and usurper Kurti from his unilateral and armed actions, with which he wants to cause a war, ”said Petkovic, quoted by TASS.

Earlier, the politician called what is happening attempts to occupy Kosovo and Metohija and said that Belgrade is considering sending 1,000 representatives of the Serbian security forces to the region in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

“President Aleksandar Vučić has said many times that pogroms will never happen again, and it seems to me that those in the West who should bring Pristina to reason did not understand this well enough,” he said, urging not to be surprised at Belgrade’s subsequent decisions, since it was not the Serbian authorities who arranged provocations and violated the Brussels agreements.

According to these 2013 agreements, the Kosovo police are not allowed to enter the north of the province without the permission of the heads of four Serbian municipalities.

  • European Parliament

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Westend61

"An attempt to provoke Belgrade"

The situation in Kosovo and Metohija escalated after the decision of Pristina to fine residents of the region who did not change their Serbian license plates.

In response to this step, the Serbs withdrew from all institutions of power in Kosovo in protest.

The European Union tried to intervene in the situation, organizing negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina, but Alexander Vucic soon announced that they ended in vain.

The head of EU diplomacy subsequently stated that Serbia and Kosovo allegedly came to an agreement on defusing the conflict, but a week after his words, Pristina initiated a military action.

According to experts interviewed by RT, any appeal to the structures of the EU and NATO in this situation is useless, since it is they who authorize the actions of the Kosovo side.

“On the one hand, this is an instrument of pressure on Vucic to force him to join the anti-Russian sanctions, and on the other hand, they are testing Belgrade for strength, trying to determine how far the Serbs are ready to go in this situation.

This is not the first escalation in a year, but Belgrade's statement about its readiness to send its security forces to Kosovo and Metohija was made for the first time, ”explained Oleg Bondarenko, director of the Progressive Policy Foundation.

At the same time, according to him, in Pristina they should understand that it is unlikely that they will be able to squeeze the Serbs out of Kosovo and Metohija.

“This is impossible, because in the north of the region, except for the Serbs, in fact, no one lives.

These are the people who will not change their place of residence.

Everyone is well aware that the Serbs are not going anywhere.

This is just an attempt to provoke Belgrade, ”the analyst argues.

In turn, Boris Mezhuev, an associate professor at Moscow State University, believes that the Kosovo authorities are trying to take advantage of the current security situation in Europe in order to resolve the issue of the province's status.

“The general unfavorable situation for Serbia clearly gives rise to a desire on the part of the Kosovo authorities to radicalize it even more in order to achieve formal recognition from Serbia and full separation.

Including to solve the issues of dual subordination of citizenship, license plates and so on,” the expert noted.

- Serbia is being openly forced to intervene by force, and, apparently, it will have to do this.

After that, I think, the mechanisms of NATO and the EU will be activated to bring Serbia "to the common European denominator."