The situation in northern Kosovo threatens to escalate seriously. After several incidents, Serbia has now apparently begun sending troops towards the border.

Pristina – after the escalation of ethnic tensions in the north of the country Kosovo Serbia threatened to send its troops to the neighboring country. It seems that President Aleksandar Vucic is serious about this.

while the Heads of State diligently fuel the conflict between Serbia and KosovoSpanish newspaper reports El Periodico de la Geopolitica On Monday, a military convoy was heading towards the Kosovo border. The newspaper also circulated video recordings via Twitter that were said to show the forces’ movements on Mount Kopaonik. You can see the BOV-16 „Milosh” armored vehicles. The mountain is located in the south of Serbia – a few kilometers from the border with Kosovo.

Serbian armored cars are heading towards Kosovo – the conflict threatens to escalate

Serbia had previously threatened to send its own police and army units to Kosovo. The video recordings are particularly sensitive because the NATO security force KFOR will allow Serbia to take this step. However, President Vucic said at a news conference in Belgrade on Saturday night that he saw little chance that the KFOR would allow Serbia to send troops to Kosovo. Balkans expert Konrad Klueng sees this In conversation with IPPEN.MEDIA Flexibility of the SRT muscles including the „breathless agitation”. Pictures are ultimately one thing above all: staging.

This was preceded by rising ethnic tensions, with road closures and gunfights in northern Kosovo.

Ethnic tensions in Kosovo: Dispute over license plates escalates

Tensions flared around one Controversy over license plates. Kosovo wants to force about 10,000 members of the Serb minority not to drive with Serbian license plates, but to accept the ones of the Republic of Kosovo. However, the Serbs in northern Kosovo do not recognize the authority of the government in Pristina.

Because of the conflict, Kosovo Serbian police officers, among others, have resigned en masse. Kosovo then sent police officers from the Albanian majority to the north of the country. Then a patrol of those came under fire on Friday. The Kosovo Police said on Friday (9 December) that a Kosovo police officer „was slightly injured (…) and the police vehicle sustained significant material damage.” Accordingly, the attackers opened fire with their rifles from a car.

The dispatch of police officers to the north appears to exacerbate tensions. This was exactly what he had feared. Petar Petkovic, head of the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo, condemned the police operation in the north, and then threatened at the end of the week that the Serbian armed forces might return to the region.

In addition, four Serb mayors and municipal representatives in northern Kosovo have resigned from their offices – again due to the now-suspended license plate regulation. Those for the end of December New elections scheduled at the local level were a test of strength and have since been postponed to April. It seems to defuse the situation.

The situation in Kosovo before the escalation: road closures and exchanges of fire

Evidently, angry ethnic Serbs blocked rural roads in northern Kosovo. They were responding to the arrest of an ethnic Serb, until recently a police officer in Kosovo, who was said to be responsible for attacks on planned polling stations. Interior Minister Halilal Zvekla wrote on Facebook that „extremist groups” had set up barricades in the towns of Leposavic, Zvecan and Zubin Potok. Police said the northern border crossing at Yarenci was closed due to barricades.

Ultra-Orthodox Serbs also participated on Tuesday shots in the air Election workers and police officers who wanted to prepare for the elections were fired. As a result, the Kosovo Police reinforced its forces in the northern part of the divided city of Mitrovica. An additional 300 police officers took up positions in the Albanian and Bosniak-populated districts of the Serbian half of the city.

To this day, Serbia is not ready to recognize the state of Kosovo, which has existed since 2008. The small Balkan country is now inhabited exclusively by Albanians. In the enclave of northern Mitrovica, directly bordering Serbia, Belgrade operates its own power structures, which rely on hardline activists and criminals. These barriers are frequently set up and trigger violent incidents. (rjs/dpa)