New shots fired from Kosovo at Montenegrin ski resort Hajla-Štedim: Authorities remain silent about security incidents

While the authorities are informing the public that a tender has been announced for the purchase of snowmaking machines at the future Hajla-Štedim ski center near Rožaje, they are keeping quiet about a series of security incidents on the border with Kosovo, out of the public eye.

After last year's, which Television Vijesti recently reported on, dozens of missiles were fired again from the Kosovo side towards Hajla at the end of August.

The findings of Television Vijesti were confirmed by the chief of the Rožaje police, who said that the local prosecutor had also been informed about everything.

Hajla has recently been under 24-hour police guard.

In the last two months, a large number of incidents have been recorded on the border with Kosovo - first a shooting, then the theft of signs that say "Welcome to Montenegro", and a month ago, according to information from Television Vijesti, dozens of missiles were fired from Kosovo towards the ski resort in Rožaje.

The local police chief confirmed that a new shooting had occurred at last week's session of the Rožaje Municipal Assembly.

"The competent prosecutor has been informed about this, we have taken certain measures. I am free to say that the incident of August 24th of this year goes beyond the scope of a security incident and may rise to the level of a diplomatic incident," said Vladimir Delević, Head of the Rožaje Security Department (OB) on September 18th of this year.

The competent state authorities are not responding to whether and what specific diplomatic measures were taken regarding the latest shooting, but according to information from Television Vijesti, there were contacts with Kosovo institutions.

Delević, however, told the councilors that the situation in that area is complex.

On June 29, Television Vijesti was the first to report that in the summer of last year, gunshots rang out from the Kosovo side towards the Hajla ski resort and the Štedim cable car.

Delević says that about 10 days before this was announced, the board of directors of the Police Directorate made a decision to introduce a 24-hour presence of police officers in the area.

"We have constant infrastructure security because there was certain operational data that the entire infrastructure could be at risk. This is an event that significantly consumes our resources," said Delević.

And while citizens await an answer about what the state has done diplomatically to protect them and their property, Television Vijesti reminds us that more than 20 million euros of state money has been invested in the Hajla-Štedim ski center.

Experts with whom Television Vijesti spoke link the incidents to dissatisfaction with the 2015 demarcation agreement, which, according to the Kosovo side, resulted in the loss of about eight thousand hectares of land, which also includes the area where the future ski center is being built.

Among the biggest opponents of the agreement is former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, from whose village Hajla is most often targeted. In addition to him, the current Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, is also an advocate of revising the agreement.