DW: The Serbs who were killed or arrested after the conflict with the Kosovo police are local, apparently outside Belgrade's control

According to Deutsche Welle (DW), the armed Serbs who were killed or arrested after the conflict with the Kosovo police-detachment are local. And that seems out of Belgrade's control. Serbia is now losing the advantage that Kurti gave it.

The armed conflict in Kosovo seems to have caught the authorities in Belgrade. A day later, there are more questions and no answers. Even President Aleksandar Vučić admitted that he waited with the "address" while gathering information, and added that everything is "magnifying".

According to Vučić - which tabloids loyal to the authorities also pointed out on the front pages this morning - the only culprit is Aljbin Kurti, who allegedly wants to drag Serbia into a conflict with NATO.

Vučić called on the international community to form the Association of Serbian Municipalities, to have Serbian policemen in the north, because this is the only way to end conflicts.

A series of wrong decisions

When it comes to the armed conflicts themselves, which Pristina assessed as "terrorism", the President of Serbia pointed out that the Serbs rebelled because of "Kurti's terror".

Currently, there are many open questions, foreign policy commentator Boško Jakšić told DW, "first of all, what was the armed group of Serbs looking for at the Banjska monastery, and what was the goal of that gathering."

According to DW information, the killed and wounded and arrested Serbs are exclusively younger people from North Mitrovica and Zvečani. They lived and worked in Kosovo, so it is a mystery why both Kurti and Vučić mentioned that they were people coming from Serbia, that is, "central Serbia".

Boško Jakšić also points to the mysticism: "It is not very clear why the Kosovo police do not announce the identity of the arrested Serbs. There is, therefore, a whole series of ambiguities, but the political dimension is incomparably more important."

"First of all, it shows how wrong was the decision to leave the Serbs from the Kosovo institutions and the Kosovo police. It is true that Kurti causes incidents, but given that Vučić is leading these negotiations and that he is the one who should ensure the safety of the Serbs, this is a kind of his defeat," Jakšić believes.

Belgrade lost its advantage

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic declares that "those who supported the aggression against Serbia in 1999 continue their policy and support Aljbin Kurti, whose desire is to cause war".

In his words, the international community practically allows a conflict to occur in Kosovo, and he adds that "the Serbian people have the right to defend themselves and express their political will, and that they do not want a conflict with anyone."

The impression in Belgrade is that this development of events did not suit the Serbian side, because it comes at a time when it seemed that Aljbin Kurti was losing the support of international factors.

This impression is shared by Boško Jakšić. "I don't think that Vučić is behind this action, but that makes the problem even more serious. This may mean that the president does not have or has lost control over the militant nationalists."

"We do not know whether it is in cooperation with the Russians, who are mentioned, but we can say with certainty that the Serbs have lost the advantage that Kurti provided them in recent weeks. The placement of Russian influence is one of the components of the crisis." says Jakšić and concludes:

"I think that after the death of the policeman there is no more talk about the Association of Serbian Municipalities."

Who suits the status quo?

Vučić and Dacić already met with the Russian ambassador in Belgrade Aleksandar Bocan-Harčenko. On that occasion, the president informed the ambassador "about the fact that brutal ethnic cleansing is being carried out in Kosovo and Metohija organized by the prime minister of the temporary institutions of Pristina, Aljbin Kurti, with the support of part of the international community," Vučić said on Instagram.

According to Boško Jakšić, the thesis of the authorities in Belgrade that it is a question of some kind of "rebellion of the Serbs" because of Kurti's policy "sounds logical".

"But one mistake is constantly made: it is always said that a Serb was arrested, and it is not said that he was arrested because he was suspected of this and that. The very fact that someone is a Serb should immediately absolve him of any guilt and that way it actually raises the tension," adds Jakšić.

It is difficult to predict the next moves of both sides, and for now condemnations of attacks by armed groups on members of the police are coming from international representatives.

Boško Jakšić believes that "the usual phrase that is repeated in such situations, which is de-escalation, will be used. It will certainly come to that. Nor is it in Kurti's interest now that the conflict escalates, and it is even less in Belgrade's interest."

"This will mean a return to the status quo, and that is the worst situation, because it seems to me that Kurti and Vučić are suited to such a status, even if it was sometimes disturbed by incidents. One gets the impression that the so-called international community does not have effective methods of pressure on the two of them in order to make progress," adds Jakšić.