The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, requested yesterday that the NATO forces stationed in Kosovo take over the role of maintaining security in the north of the country, after a policeman and four attackers were killed in a conflict between armed Serbs and the Kosovo police on Sunday, which fueled new fears of the international community for the stability of Kosovo and region.
"I reiterated Serbia's position on the latest events in Kosovo and Metohija and requested that KFOR take care of all security issues in the north of Kosovo instead of Kurti's police," Vučić wrote after a meeting with the ambassadors of the Quintet countries - USA, Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany , as well as with the head of the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia.
As reported by Beta, he said that he also asked the question why Eulex was refused by the Kosovo police to attend the operation itself, which was carried out in the territory of the north of Kosovo.
About 4.500 KFOR soldiers are stationed in Kosovo as part of the peacekeeping mission. NATO did not react to Vučić's request yesterday, but, as the Associated Press agency points out, it is unlikely that it will be accepted because the main role of these troops is peacekeeping, not the performance of police tasks.
US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill said yesterday in Belgrade that the escalation of violence in Banjska in Kosovo is a "tragic event" and that further steps are being considered, but he did not answer the question of journalists about what they discussed at the meeting between Quinta and Vučić.
Vučić, who on Monday was the target of criticism for waiting too long to address the events of Sunday in Kosovo and for placing all the blame on the Kosovo Serbs, said in a post on Instagram yesterday that these are "one of the most difficult moments for Serbia". , and today was declared a day of mourning in Serbia.
"The Government of Serbia is asking all the media and organizers of public events to adapt their program to the day of mourning on Wednesday, September 27, and thus pay respect to the victims in Kosovo and Metohija," the Government's announcement states.
"Serbia has no problem saying that it condemns the murder of an Albanian policeman, but we cannot be mute, deaf and blind to the persecution and killing of the Serbian people in Kosovo," said Serbian Defense Minister Miloš Vucevic after a meeting with his Norwegian counterpart Bjern Arild Gram in Belgrade.
About 4.500 KFOR soldiers are stationed in Kosovo as part of the peacekeeping mission, but it is unlikely that Vučić's request will be accepted because the main role of these troops is to preserve the peace, not to perform police tasks, the AP agency points out.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack or explained the attackers' motives. Kosovo accuses Serbia of logistically supporting the "terrorist criminal unit" that clashed with the police, while Vučić said that the attackers were local Serbs "who can no longer endure the terror" of Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti.
The two Serbs who were arrested in the shooting appeared on Tuesday, handcuffed and accompanied by heavily armed police, before the court in Pristina, Reuters reported.
Dejan A. Vasić, a lawyer who represents Dusan Maksimović, who is suspected of participating in the shooting, said he plans to appeal the 30 days of detention ordered for his client.
"We have stated some facts... which indicate that this may be more of a misunderstanding than something that could be connected to a crime," Vasić told reporters in Pristina.
The court announced that the third suspected attacker, who was wounded, had already presented his defense before the judge in the hospital, where he was accused of participating in the terrorist attack and was ordered to be detained for one month.
Kosovo authorities yesterday repeated accusations that the group that attacked the Kosovo police on Sunday was led by the vice-president of the Serbian List, the largest party of Kosovo Serbs that has the support of Belgrade.
Kosovo Police Minister Dželal Svečlja posted on Facebook a video from the Banjska monastery, in which, as he claims, the Vice President of the Serbian List, Milan Radoičić, can be seen.
"The one in the pictures below is Milan Radoičić, vice-president of the Serbian List, also from the blacklist of the USA and the United Kingdom. The main criminal Radoičić was the leader of this terrorist group and the attack in which policeman Afrim Bunjaku was killed. This is another proof of his terrorist activity against the Republic of Kosovo. The vice-president of the Serbian List is the leader of the terrorist attack and the group of terrorists," Svečlja wrote.
He added that "the map of the terrorist attack is clarified every day". "Aleksandar Vučić through the Serbian List, and they through their vice president Radoičić, undertook a terrorist action against the legal and constitutional order of the Republic of Kosovo, trying to destabilize our Republic. Therefore, the Serbian List sees its participation in Kosovo only in a terrorist way. They failed".
Svečlja published the video in which he claims to see Radoičić yesterday after Srpska lista declared a three-day mourning for the "death of a fellow citizen".
"September 26, 27 and 28 are declared days of mourning for the death of our fellow citizens in a tragic event in Banjska, in the municipality of Zvečan," the Serbian List said in a statement, adding that all entertainment events will be cancelled. "On behalf of the Serbian List and the Serbian people from Kosovo and Metohija, we express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery," the announcement reads.
Portal Kossev announced last night that hundreds of citizens gathered yesterday in the center of Zvečani where they lit candles with photos of three Serbs from the north of Kosovo who died in the clashes in Banjska. Among the citizens who paid their respects were, as the portal announced, family members of one of the murdered, as well as officials of the Serbian List.
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Aljbin Kurti, published yesterday on the social network X photos of members of the Kosovo police while distributing food packages to Serbs in Banjska near Zvečani, stating that the police are "at the service" of the citizens of Kosovo. In the announcement, Kurti expressed his gratitude to the residents of Banjska "for their calmness and trust". "In addition to conducting anti-terrorist operations, the Kosovo Police distributed more than 100 food packages to the majority Serb residents of Banjska, while also addressing other basic needs. I thank our citizens for their calmness, vigilance and trust. The police are here to help you," Kurti wrote.
Rama: Serbia sent the worst message to the region and the Euro-Atlantic community
On the occasion of declaring a day of mourning in Serbia, the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, spoke yesterday, who, as reported by Kossev, stated that it was the worst message that Serbia could send.
"The officially declared mourning in Belgrade for the members of the armed group that was destroyed by the security forces of the Republic of Kosovo, after that group took the life of a policeman, is the worst signal that Serbia can send to the region and the Euro-Atlantic community!", said Rama.
"Although it should have opened a serious investigation into the members of that criminal group, their connections with arms dealers and other individuals or entities, in Serbia or elsewhere, potentially engaged in the creation of an armed movement in the north of Kosovo, in Belgrade this black declaration that has nothing to do with In the 21st century, the flames of armed conflict are fanning like never since 1999," said the Albanian Prime Minister.
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