The Serbian Armed Forces have been brought to the highest degree of combat readiness against the backdrop of the situation in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, said Defense Minister Milos Vucevic.

President Aleksandar Vucic gave the corresponding order to the army and the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“In accordance with the order of the President of the Republic and the Supreme Commander of the Serbian Army Aleksandar Vučić, I ordered all units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to be put on full alert.

They will be transferred under the command of the Chief of the General Staff and will take up the positions provided for by the operational plan, ”TASS quotes the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic Bratislav Gašić.

Earlier, the authorities of partially recognized Kosovo also brought their units to full combat readiness.

After that, Vučić issued a statement in which he promised to protect the Serbs.

“We are in a difficult situation, but we will do everything to maintain peace and stability, to protect our people in the north of Kosovo and Metohija.

After arming the Albanians and raising their level of combat readiness, I will take all measures to protect our people, to protect Serbia,” the President emphasized.

Regional media wrote that the Serbian army pulled self-propelled howitzers to the border with the autonomous region.

In particular, six long-range guns, as well as a number of military policemen, were seen in the area of ​​the Yarine checkpoint.


Against the backdrop of reports that the Kosovo security forces could invade the region, the Serbs in Mitrovica put up new barricades.

This came in response to reports that the Kosovo police had rented bulldozers and excavators to demolish temporary fortifications.

Aleksandar Vučić later issued a statement saying that Pristina and the EU are trying to "drive the Serbs out of the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, because this is the only way for them - this is how they see the solution to the problem."

For her part, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic explained the day before that putting the army and police on full alert indicates Belgrade's determination to respond to the aggression directed at the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija.

Escalation stages

Recall that the aggravation in the north of Kosovo and Metohija began after the decision of Pristina to fine the residents of the region who did not change their Serbian license plates to Kosovo ones.

In protest, local Serbs withdrew from all institutions of power in Kosovo - parliament, municipalities, the judiciary and the police.

The European Union tried to intervene in the situation.

In November, Brussels organized talks between Belgrade and Pristina.

However, Serbian President Vučić soon declared that they were inconclusive.

  • Serb protest in Rudar on December 22

  • AP

  • © Bojan Slavkovic

In early December, Kosovo security forces entered the northern regions of the autonomous province, where the largest number of Serbs live.

Several hundred soldiers of the ROSU police special forces arrived in the region with armored vehicles, the security forces blocked Kosovska Mitrovica, and also seized the buildings of election commissions and administrations in several settlements.

Meanwhile, in accordance with agreements reached in 2013, the Kosovo police have no right to enter the north of the province without the permission of the heads of four Serbian municipalities.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on December 7 that the reason for the forceful action was allegedly taking place in the Serbian regions in the north of the province "criminal attacks."

He also promised to strengthen the police presence in the region.

A former Serb police officer who resigned in November in protest against Pristina's actions was later arrested.

After that, the Serbs began to build barricades in the north of the province, and the Kosovo police blocked entry through the Jarine checkpoint for cars and pedestrians from Central Serbia.

Belgrade called what was happening attempts to occupy Kosovo and Metohija.

Against the background of the aggravation of the situation, Aleksandar Vučić announced that he would send a request to NATO for the entry of a contingent of the Serbian police and army into the autonomous region in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

Vučić later said that he had asked the commander of the NATO Allied Forces Command in Naples, Stuart Munsch, for the alliance to protect the Serb population in Kosovo and Metohija.

Moscow's position

The Russian Foreign Ministry, commenting on the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, noted that Western countries are actually condoning the actions of the Kosovo Albanian authorities.

This, in particular, was pointed out by the official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova.

“The NATO and EU contingents deployed in the region cannot and do not want to influence what is happening.

As during the bloody anti-Serb pogroms of 2004, they act as extras, condone escalation in favor of Albin Kurti's plans to clear the territory of Kosovo from the non-Albanian population, ”the diplomat said on December 26.

“The United States and the European Union continue to talk down to the Serbs, every now and then they break into a brazen distribution of instructions.

A typical example was the lectures by EU High Representative Josep Borrell, who categorically ordered the Serbs to "immediately remove" the barricades.

Such an open play by Brussels to the appetites of the Kosovars goes beyond all conceivable limits of cynicism.

The constant pressure of the European Union and the leading member states on the Kosovo Serbs contrasts sharply with their deathly silence about Pristina's ignoring the obligation to create a Community of Serbian Municipalities in the province," the diplomat stressed.

In turn, the Kosovars receive only concessions from Brussels - for example, in the form of visa liberalization or acceptance of Pristina's application for EU membership for consideration, Zakharova recalled.

The diplomat added that the settlement of the situation can be achieved only if its international legal framework is observed.

“Attempts to undermine or ignore fundamental UN Security Council Resolution 1244 are unacceptable.

The new aggravation that broke out in the province convincingly demonstrates that the departure from the current regulatory framework for Kosovo only provokes the Pristina radicals.

And there, it’s not far from a real, large-scale conflict, ”summed up Zakharova.

Deliberate provocation 

As the director of the Center for European Information, associate professor at MGIMO of the Russian Foreign Ministry Nikolai Topornin emphasized in a conversation with RT, bringing the armed forces of Kosovo and Serbia to full combat readiness speaks of an alarming state of affairs.

“The situation is complex and very tense.

The alerting of the armed forces on both sides emphasizes that the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians are again approaching an armed conflict, ”the political scientist noted.

He explained that the escalating demand by the Kosovo Albanian authorities to replace license plates had become unacceptable to the Serbian population of the region, as it would actually mean recognition of the legitimacy of Kosovo.

“For the Serbian minority living in the north of the region, and for Serbia, this would mean recognition of the state sovereignty of Kosovo.

And this contradicts their constitutional position, according to which Kosovo and Metohija are the original historical lands of Serbia, which were illegally seized.

Therefore, the conflict, which began with a demand to replace license plates, again escalated into a conflict: to recognize or not to recognize Kosovo as a territory that separated from Serbia, ”the expert added.

  • American soldiers of the NATO KFOR mission in Kosovo

  • AP

  • © Marjan Vucetic

In turn, the editor-in-chief of the Geopolitika publication Leonid Savin, in an interview with RT, noted that the aggravation of the situation was provoked by the Kosovo Albanian authorities with the support of the US and the EU.

“The current aggravation was caused by Pristina and is a planned provocation.

All this is being carried out, of course, with the support of the countries of the European Union and the United States.

The purpose of this aggravation is to force Belgrade to make all the concessions that Brussels demanded of it.

Naturally, Serbia could not do this, because this would mean a violation of its own Constitution and the sovereignty of the country.

Therefore, the Kosovo Albanians deliberately launched a provocation demanding to change the numbers and subsequent military actions - in order to force the Serbs into a tough reaction and thereby give the EU and NATO a reason to take tough measures against Serbia, ”the analyst explained.

At the same time, in his opinion, the situation has reached a dead end, and the diplomatic ways of resolving it have clearly been exhausted.

Thus, Belgrade will have to show tough political will, the expert stressed.