Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said tonight that the Day of Mourning in the country was declared due to the death of all persons in the armed conflict in the north of Kosovo, not only Serbs, challenging the position of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama that this is an unacceptable and un-European move.
Vučić told RTS that the Day of Mourning in Serbia was declared due to the murder of three Serbs and a Kosovo policeman, Afrim Bunjaku, in a conflict in the village of Banjska on September 24, adding that Rama "does not tell the truth" and that "it is not the first time that he does not tell the truth".
"The day of mourning was declared because of the death of all people, all of them are citizens of Serbia from the point of view of the Constitution of Serbia. I think it is a civilized, serious and responsible decision. Rama was not telling the truth, it is true that Serbian municipalities in the north (of Kosovo) declared mourning only because of the murdered Serbs, but that is not the case here," said Vučić.
Regarding Rama's statement that the declaration of the Day of Mourning in Belgrade was "the worst signal that Serbia could send at this moment", Vučić stated that the Albanian Prime Minister and no one from Europe "didn't preach" when "Albanian terrorists" were in Kumanovo in 2015. attacked what was then Macedonia.
"It was not in 1998, but in 2015. They attacked a country that is a member of the UN, eight Macedonian policemen were killed. The state commemoration for all the Albanians killed in Kumanovo was held in Pristina, the hall was full. The then prime minister (of Kosovo) was present. Isa Mustafa," said Vučić.
He added that a monument was erected to "one of the killed terrorists", Beg Rizaj, in Decani, which was visited by Ramush Haradinaj when he was the prime minister of Kosovo.
(BETA)
Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani said that Kosovo should prepare together with the United States of America (USA) the draft statute of the Community of Municipalities with a Serbian majority.
Osmani said in an interview for Kosovo Radio and Television that the Agreement on Normalization of Relations - which Kosovo and Serbia reached earlier this year - is not "perfect" for Kosovo, but is an international obligation, reports Radio Free Europe.
She said that there are still doubts about how some parts of it can be applied in practice, referring to Articles 7 and 10. Article 7 talks about ensuring an appropriate level of self-sufficiency of the Serbian community, in accordance with the agreements reached earlier and within the dialogue. .
In the meantime, the next article requires the parties to implement all agreements reached in the dialogue, including that for the Community.
"I think the solution is the following: we need to sit down with the US, to prepare our draft, the draft of the Republic of Kosovo. At first (only with the US), I think this solution is to sit down with our partners in the US, to give the US Secretary of State (Antony Blinken) present our draft, which is in accordance with the Constitution of Kosovo, in accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court, in accordance with the letter of (former head of EU diplomacy Federica) Mogherini to guarantee that there will be no executive powers and in accordance with the written American position in the opinion (written ) by (Senior DASH Advisor Derek) Chollet and (Washington's Western Balkans Envoy Gabriel) Escobar clarifying that such a body would be a coordinating body, without executive powers," Osmani said.
In 2013, Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement on the Community, and then in 2015, an agreement on the principles for its establishment. However, in 2015, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo determined that the agreement was not fully in accordance with the highest legal act and demanded that it be harmonized through secondary legal acts.
For the implementation of the agreement for the Union of Municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo, there are currently four draft statutes and a draft vision: Draft statute of the Management Team, draft vision of the Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti, draft statute of the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama and draft statute of the Association prepared by the German organization Friedrich-Ebert -Stiftung (FES).
The United States of America and the European Union have repeatedly asked Kosovo to form a Union, which is the main demand of Belgrade.
The Government of Kosovo fears that the ethnic association could threaten the functionality of the state. But the US insists that it will not allow the Association to resemble the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The EU and the US also asked Kosovo and Serbia to immediately implement the Agreement in the direction of normalization.
This 11-article agreement provides, among other things, a level of self-governance for the Serbian community in Kosovo and mutual recognition of state symbols, and Pristina and Belgrade are also required to implement all previous dialogue agreements.
American Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a member of the Senate Foreign Policy Committee, condemned Sunday's attack by an armed group of Serbs on the Kosovo police and expressed regret that the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo still show no willingness to seek a permanent solution.
"We must not allow more innocent lives to pay the price of political paralysis. I call on both leaders (Aleksandar Vučić and Aljbin Kurti) to work together with the US and the European Union to prioritize diplomatic efforts to avoid further violence and to return immediately dialogue," Shahin told Voice of America.
Shahin, senator of the Democratic Party from the state of New Hampshire, chairman of the Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Policy Committee on Europe, stated in a written response that "the tragedy that happened on Sunday indicates the real danger of doing nothing."
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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, said today on Radiotelevision Vojvodina that Belgrade has nothing to do with the armed group that led an armed conflict with the Kosovo police in the village of Banjska in the north of Kosovo on Sunday, and that he does not know who organized that group, but he indicated that " whoever organizes them in the fight for the freedom of the Serbian people..., must take care of the effects".
Dacic said in the show "Pravi Ugao" that the conflict in Banjska, in which one Albanian policeman and three Serbs were killed, "is not in the interest of Belgrade", and that the solution to the situation is de-escalation, a greater presence of KFOR in the north of Kosovo and the new elections.
According to him, the Kosovo police "have no right" to be in the north of Kosovo, because the Serbs there and Serbia do not recognize Kosovo as a state.
When asked about Pristina's claim that Belgrade directly organized and armed that group, he said that he did not know who organized it, but that Pristina's "official conception" is to blame Belgrade for everything.
Asked if the vice-president of the Serbian List, Milan Radoičić, led an armed group in Banjska, Dacić said that he could not confirm.
He also said that he did not know whether Radoičić was being treated in Belgrade, and he did not directly answer the question of journalist Ljubica Gojgić about the video on which Radoičić allegedly appears and the question whether that recording is a direct connection of the armed group to Belgrade, given that the vice president of the Serbian List appeared in the company of representatives of the Serbian government.
Dacic then asked why "no one allows Serbs from Kosovo to protest, and we are talking about autochthonous Serbs who have a legitimate right to express their opinion and dissatisfaction" with the behavior of Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti.
"Albanians had the same right (during the 1990s) to form their own armed formations, and their leader Hashim Thaci was at the negotiations in Rambouillet," Dacic said.
Asked whether Belgrade would prosecute Radoičić if it was determined that he organized an armed group, Dacić asked: "For what?" and assessed that "double standards are at work".
"They (the authorities in Pristina) say they are terrorists and talk about the territorial integrity of Kosovo, but what about the territorial integrity of Serbia?" said Dacic and asked "Why are they (armed Serbs) terrorists, and the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) are freedom fighters?" and "Why did they (Kosovo Serbs) organize at all?".
It is, as he said, an "indigenous movement of Serbs", but he pointed out that the solution "lies in de-escalation", in increasing the number of KFOR members in the north of Kosovo and in new elections in Kosovo.
Dacic said that it is not in Serbia's interest to see the loss of human lives, neither Serbs nor Albanians, and that it would be best if the whole process were to return to what was set 10 years ago: to try to reach the normalization of everyday life through dialogue, not entering into status issues.
"And this is where we come to the key problem, which is that Kurti does not accept at all that the negotiations are status-neutral. If we had stuck to that, these incidents would not have occurred," said Dacic.
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The Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Dželjalj Svečlja, today, on the occasion of the armed conflict between the Serbs and the Kosovo police in Banjska, published a paper which, according to him, was a confirmation given by the Serbian Army to the group regarding the surrender of grenade launchers, which official Belgrade denied.
Svečlja showed a paper on Facebook which, as he said in the description of the post, was a confirmation given by the Serbian Army to the group about the surrender of the grenade launcher, and the police seized it the same day, writes KoSSev.
That portal writes that Svečlja presented a paper that looks like a packing list from a crate, that is, an alleged document that was issued from the army stock with the markings M93.
The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petković, denied and rejected this today, as well as all the earlier statements by Svečlje about the armed conflict between the Serbs and the Kosovo police, on Sunday morning near Banjska.
Svečlja also announced that among those killed near the village of Banjska was BM, who, according to him, was one of Aleksandar Vulin's bodyguards during his visit in 2013.
"Yesterday, through videos, we witnessed the presence of the main criminal and leader of the terrorist action, Milan Radoičić," Svečlja wrote on Facebook.
He assessed that this "proves that the state of Serbia is fully involved" in what he said was a "terrorist attack aimed at destabilizing Kosovo".
In the press release, Petković called Svečlje's statements and announcements "lies", and stated that it is "totally untrue" that Serbs from central Serbia participated in the conflict in Banjska.
"For the fourth day, he continues to lie that Serbs from central Serbia took part in the events in the village of Banjska, which is completely untrue," said Petković.
He assessed that the intention of Svečlja "is to accuse Belgrade of alleged involvement in those events" which, as he stated, "produced by (Prime Minister of Kosovo) Aljbin Kurti with his anti-Serb policy".
Petković denied that the paper that, as he said, Svečlja published "some kind of proof of the involvement of the Serbian Army in the events from Banjska".
He added that "it is not a paper about the handover of any weapon", but rather an "ordinary technical sheet" and, as he stated, "it is not a reverse on the charge of the asset".
"It is not a paper about any handover of a weapon, as Svečlja misleads, but it is a simple technical sheet that goes with every weapon and which is officially called the 'packing list'," he said.
According to him, it only contains the nomenclature number and type of asset "and is not a reversal of the debt of the asset".
"Svečlja also lied about the deceased Serb in Novi Pazar, that Milan Radoičić was placed in the VMA (in Belgrade), that he confiscated an alleged Gendarmerie vehicle in Banjska," said Petković.
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The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia assessed today that Belgrade is responsible for the armed conflict between Serbs and Kosovo police on Sunday morning near Banjska.
In the announcement, he characterized the conflict as "an incursion of a spa group into the north of Kosovo", and assessed that this incursion could have been expected given Belgrade's behavior in recent months.
He stated that this "represents Belgrade's attempt to provoke conflicts" so that the Serbian army would enter to protect the Serbian people in the north and thus achieve the division of Kosovo.
"The speech of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić at the UN, the increased presence of the Serbian Army near the border with Kosovo, the graffiti 'When the army returns to Kosovo', are just some of the signs that pointed to attacks like this one in Banjska," the announcement reads.
The Helsinki Committee stated that Serbia, "although the culprit in Belgrade, who is directly responsible for this attack, is not yet known, has crossed a red line, which, as he added, the West cannot tolerate.
He also assessed that "the brutal campaign of dehumanization of Kosovo Albanians and the discrediting of the Kosovo leadership since Aljbin Kurti came to power" radicalized public opinion in Serbia, mobilizing, as he pointed out, citizens for new conflicts.
The Helsinki Committee states that "a consensus has almost been created in public opinion", which is defined not only by the politicians in power and their media, but also, as they indicate, by the majority of the academic elite with the view that Kurti is solely responsible for the failure of all negotiations.
It was assessed that "the Kosovo Serbs, to whom Vučić is trying to shift responsibility, were his hostages all the time", just as, as stated in the announcement, the Serbs in the region were hostages and then victims" of Slobodan Milošević's regime from the XNUMXs. century.
"If Vučić really, as he claims, did not know what was happening, the question arises as to who is the key figure in Belgrade," the announcement reads.
It is added that the incursion of the spa group into the north of Kosovo is "a serious indicator of the direction in which things can go" if, as stated, the Western policy in the Balkans is not reset.
"We call on the countries of the Quintet (USA, Italy, France, Germany and Great Britain) to consistently demand from Serbia the implementation of the already set demands - the introduction of sanctions against Russia and the recognition of Kosovo," the statement of the Helsinki Committee reads.
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Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama called on the European Union to come out with another statement and to condemn the day of mourning announced by Serbia due to the tragic events in Kosovo or "it will not be on the same line with it".
During a press conference with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy Antonio Tajani in Rome, where he is on an official visit, he said that it is impossible for them to support the first statement of the EU on the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, without having another statement condemning Serbia's actions.
In essence, Rama is saying that the first statement has no problem because it refers to what was said earlier.
However, according to him, the declaration of a day of national mourning by Serbia is unjustified, unacceptable and those actions must be punished.
"For the first time in at least the last 10 years, our position contradicts the EU's foreign policy statement. This position is connected to the fact that the EU statement is a statement that does not have a problem in itself, because it refers to everything that the high representative said earlier ( EU Jozep) Borelj regarding Kosovo's obligations regarding the dialogue, but there is a big problem that it does not correspond to the reality of the last days," said Rama.
He added that "it is impossible for us to join the EU without seeing another statement dealing with the problem of recent days, when a dramatic development took place after a Kosovo policeman was killed by a criminal group apparently involved in terror in the north of Kosovo, which was followed by the declaration of a day of national mourning in Belgrade".
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The British Minister for European Affairs, Leo Dockerty, in a conversation with Serbian officials in Belgrade today, strongly condemned the attacks on the Kosovo Police near the Banjska monastery and called on the authorities in Belgrade and Pristina to work together to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"The United Kingdom continues to encourage constructive behavior in the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, as the key to regional stability and security. We strongly condemn the violent attack on the Kosovo Police on September 24 and call on the authorities in Belgrade and Pristina to work together to bring the perpetrators to justice." , Dockerty said, the British Embassy reported.
Dockerty visited Belgrade as part of a regional tour of the Western Balkans, and spoke with Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic and Minister for European Integration Tanja Miščević, as well as with representatives of the parliament.
The events of September 24 present real risks to regional stability. They stem from the uncontrolled accumulation of weapons, and the failure to achieve progress in the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, whose goal is to make all communities feel safe and secure, Dockerty said.
He called on Serbia to cooperate fully with the Kosovo authorities and international partners in order to bring those responsible to justice, as well as to use its influence in the north of Kosovo in order to de-escalate tensions and discourage further violence, as well as to refrain from any moves or rhetoric that would complicate the return to dialogue under the auspices of the European Union.
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The League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV)-Vojvodina announced today that a terrorist attack took place near the village of Banjska in Kosovo and requested the disclosure of all the details related to it.
In a statement, that party condemned the terrorist attack and called on the competent state authorities to urgently inform the public of the details of this crime.
"The public must know who is behind this attack, who is the organizer and who is the executor," stated the LSV.
She assessed that the quick truth about the events in Banjska would prevent the escalation of violence and new tragic events.
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The president of the "European Path - Basta" movement, Rade Basta, requested today that Belgrade and Pristina return to dialogue under the auspices of members of the Fifth.
On social networks, Basta called for the responsibility of politicians and the reconciliation of Serbs and Albanians and assessed that the state is not a toy for some politicians from the government to play with.
"Serbia is a serious country. The best policy is the policy of reconciliation in the Balkans," said Basta.
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The Acting Director of the Kosovo Police for the Northern Region, Veton Eljšani, said today that the goal of the police was not to kill armed persons in the village of Banjska, but to free the territory from a "criminal group".
Speaking to the media from the place where the attack took place on Sunday, in which one member of the Kosovo police and at least three Serbs from the north of Kosovo were killed, Eljšani said that the investigation into the case "will take some time".
"The planning of the police officers at the scene was very good. We have no intention of killing 30 people. Our goal is to free our territory from criminal groups. If there were injuries and victims, that was part of the process. We believe that we managed to do it with as little as possible damage, we will reach the goal," Elšani said.
He said that the police are also interested in why the village of Banjska was "chosen for the attack" and what was the intention of the group of about 30 armed Serbs.
Eljšani also said that searches and controls in the area of the village of Banjska have been completed.
"We checked the surrounding area quite well, but there is a possibility that there are unexploded devices, and that is why we believe that the danger has not yet passed, even though we found a large amount of weapons and equipment," said Eljšani.
He added that the policeman Afrim Bunjaku died on the main road near the bridge where the barricades were placed.
"That's where the exchange of fire started, other units arrived and everything started from there," Eljšani said, adding that during the police operation, the residents of Banjska were "cooperative".
He added that the police in that village acted "in coordination" with the EULEX mission and stated that the Kosovo police is ready to react if similar incidents occur.
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The Special Prosecutor's Office in Kosovo announced today that they released four suspects in the case in Banjska yesterday, because there was not enough evidence for their involvement in the case.
"We inform you that four people who were arrested during the action of the Kosovo Police, in the village of Banjska in the municipality of Zvečan, far from the scene, were released yesterday by the Special Prosecutor's Office in the absence of evidence from the Kosovo Police," the Prosecutor's Office announced today.
The Kosovo police arrested eight people in connection with the armed attack that took place on Sunday in Banjska in Zvečan, including two attackers, four people who were suspected of being logistical support over the radio link, and two people in a restaurant on suspicion of had anything to do with the attack.
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With full generals and a picture, Kosovo's Minister of Internal Affairs, Dželjalj Svečlja, is the first official to confirm the identity of one of the three, according to current information, killed Serbs during the conflict that escalated in Banjska on Sunday after a member of the Kosovo Police was killed in an overnight ambush
Except for the recordings and found documents of the vice-president of the Serbian List, Milan Radoičić, for which this minister directly linked him to the group that attacked the police on Sunday, saying that he was actually their leader, the identity of one of the three killed - especially Svečlji proves the involvement of the Serbian state in a "theoretical attack" in Banjska, reports the portal KoSSev.
And it is about the person of BM otherwise, as he claims, the person who was the bodyguard of the current director of the Security Information Agency (BIA) of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, during his visit to Kosovo ten years ago, at the time when Vulin was the director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija of the Government of Serbia.
"Yesterday, through video recordings, we witnessed the presence of the main criminal and leader of the terrorist action, Milan Radoičić. In the meantime, it was confirmed today that one of the killed who was also a participant in that act was BM, the bodyguard of the head of the Serbian BIA, Aleksandar Vulin, during his visit to the Republic of Kosovo in 2013.
He reminds that both Radoičić and Vulin are on the sanctions list of the United States of America:
"The State of Serbia is fully involved in this terrorist attack with the aim of destabilizing the Republic of Kosovo. That is why there is already a formal and structural connection of Aleksandar Vučić's involvement in the attack on Banjska and Zvečan on September 24: Milan Radoičić, as the vice-president of the Serbian List and the bodyguard of Aleksandar Vulin, the head of the BIA. Both are also sanctioned on the US blacklist. Both are among the closest people to the President of Serbia".
"These facts are another proof that Serbia's intentions towards the Republic of Kosovo have not changed at all since the time of Milosevic's regime, the former minister of propaganda of that regime, now the president of the current regime in Serbia. Even the biggest optimists who until now lied to themselves about the changes in this country, I believe, have convinced themselves of the opposite these days," added the Kosovo Minister of Internal Affairs.
He once again thanked the Kosovo Police for their "unprecedented professionalism", especially because, he pointed out, not a single civilian was injured in the entire operation since Sunday.
The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) today sent its condolences to the families of those killed in the recent armed confrontation between a group of armed Serbs and the Kosovo police in the village of Banjska in the north of Kosovo and Metohija.
In a statement, the Synod called on the faithful of the SPC to "pray to God for all the victims, for the sake of the future of both Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija" and rejected the allegations from Priština, the actions of the international community and "what is far more tragic, from Belgrade" according to which the Church depicted as a "participant, even the culprit" of the conflict surrounding the Banjska monastery.
"The goal of those who, at any cost, want to drag the Church into tragic conflicts is for the SPC to disappear from Kosovo and Metohija with its faithful people," the statement said.
The Synod directed "prayer and any other necessary support and support" to Bishop Theodosius of Raška-Prizren, "brother priests, monks and believers".
"To the brothers and sisters in Kosovo and Metohija, we send a message of boundless love and paternal care. The Serbian Church, wherever it lives and acts as a shepherd, will continue to generously help you, its long-suffering, but unwavering, proud people in Kosovo and Metohija, wishing you give comfort, warmth and hope in these difficult days," the announcement reads.
It is stated that the SPC "always advocated, as it advocates now, that misunderstandings in Kosovo and Metohija be resolved peacefully and through dialogue, with the aim of peaceful coexistence of Serbs, Albanians and all other peoples living in that area", but also that they are for Church, Kosovo and Metohija "an inseparable part of the state of Serbia".
"The SPC, especially to the big powers, has pointed out many times the extremely dangerous policy of the authorities in Pristina, whose only goal is the complete expulsion of the Serbian people and the creation of an ethnically Albanian Kosovo. To this end, countless attacks have been carried out on our sanctuaries, on our people, even and on Serbian children. In recent months, people have been arrested, without any evidence or on the basis of fabricated evidence, the land in the possession of Serbs has been seized, in short, Kosovo and Metohija are today a lawless country, where there is neither freedom nor a minimum of normal life for Serbs." it is stated in the announcement of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The Kosovo Police announced in its regular daily report that during the inspection of four houses of Serbs in Banjska, near Zvečani, weapons were reported for which the owners did not have a permit, as well as that the procedure for their illegal possession is going into the regular procedure.
In one of the houses, the owner reported that he owned a carbine rifle with 87 bullets and an air rifle without a license, and in the other, the owner also reported a hunting rifle with 74 bullets, for which he did not have a valid license.
In the third case, an unlicensed carbine was also found, without bullets, while in the fourth case, the owner also reported a hunting rifle and ten bullets.
By the decision of the prosecutor in all four cases, the weapons found were confiscated, and the case continues in the regular procedure.
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Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti said today that the attack in Banjska testifies to the danger, purpose and potential of, as he put it, "Serbian criminal and terrorist groups in the north".
Kurti said at the Government session that the sovereignty, integrity and national security of Kosovo were violated on Sunday.
He proposed to all citizens of Kosovo to thank the Kosovo police wherever they meet them.
"With that in mind, the exceptional professionalism of the Kosovo Police and the security institutions in general has been demonstrated. The full ability to protect the Republic has been proven. It is the greatest success since independence, a success that makes us all proud. That is why today I call on everyone here, all the citizens of Kosovo, to they thank the police in uniform wherever and whenever they see them," he said.
He added that a quantity of weapons worth more than five million euros was seized in Banjska.
According to him, the attack showed the need for greater international cooperation in the protection and control of the border with Serbia.
"And with that comes the need for open punishment in clear and concrete language and the demands of the international community towards Serbia," Kurti said.
He said that after documenting the participation of the vice-president of the Serbian List, Milan Radoičić, in the attack on Banjska, it is shown that the revival of political pluralism is of vital importance for the Serbs in Kosovo.
Minister of Culture Hajrula Čeku said that in addition to the murder of the police officer Afrim Bunjaku, the armed attack on Kosovo also aimed at disrupting inter-religious and inter-ethnic relations, since the group that carried out that act used the Banjska monastery in Zvečan, which, he said, was great damage.
He said that the government is waiting for the creation of the necessary conditions for the teams to go to the field to assess the damage.
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The Office for Kosovo and Metohija announced that last night around 22.30:XNUMX p.m., the Serbian Elementary School "Braća Aksić" in Lipjan was stoned.
"This educational institution is attended by about 50 students of Serbian nationality, and some parents today, out of fear for their safety, did not allow their children to come to school. Locals are more than worried about the attack on this school and new incidents that Albanian extremists, surrounded by aggressive rhetoric, may carry out and the politics of Pristina", stated in today's announcement.
The Office for Kosovo and Metohija points out that it will remediate the resulting material damage through its representatives on the ground, but that "a greater presence of international missions in Serbian areas is necessary in order to avoid and prevent any incidents and make Serbs feel safer".
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Serbian Defense Minister Miloš Vučević said today, regarding the armed conflict in the north of Kosovo in which a Kosovo policeman and four Serbs were killed on Sunday, that the Serbian authorities' communication with KFOR is "at the lowest technical level".
Vucevic told RTS: "we are communicating with Kfor, we cannot stop cooperation, but that level has literally been reduced to an elementary, technical level".
On the occasion of the armed conflict on Sunday, September 24, at the Banjska Vucevic monastery, he said that "what follows is an accurate determination of everything that happened".
He pointed out that "since 1999, Serbia has not had de facto authority in Kosovo and Metohija", and that "it is difficult for our authorities to establish the facts".
"What we have heard leads to the direction that Serbia is the initiator or sponsor of I don't know what kind of terrorist acts", said Vučević, who denied this and added that what worries him the most is the position of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, especially in the north which Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti "declared a zone of terrorist activities".
He said that "the key question is who allowed the Kosovo police, ethnically pure, Albanian, to come to the north of Kosovo and Metohija, which is contrary to the Brussels agreement".
"Serbia condemned the killing of Albanian policemen, we don't want any conflicts. Of course, what happened after that was a horror, that Serbs were hunted like beasts," said Vucevic.
When asked if Belgrade's position in negotiations with Pristina is more difficult after the armed conflict, Vucevic said that "it certainly is" because the international community hears the narrative that "Serbia is a sponsor of terrorism".
"I believe that we have the strength to preserve peace and I believe that we will preserve the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. All the facts that should show us and prove what exactly happened in the early morning hours of September 24 are up to the competent authorities to determine, with the limiting factor that we cannot access the field," said Vucevic.
Regarding who is the organizer of the larger group of armed Serbs that was involved in the conflict with the Kosovo police near the Banjska monastery, Vučević said that it was "speculation". "We don't want to give easy conclusions" because it will be necessary to "carefully gather all the facts", the minister said.
"It is an interesting and strange moment that the Kosovo police were deployed for fire action in such a short time," said Vucevic.
When asked about the Arms Fair being held in Belgrade, he said that this big fair is "in the shadow of what happened" three days ago. He invited those interested to visit him on Thursday, when there is an open day for visitors.
He announced that a "record contract for arms of the Serbian Army" will be signed tomorrow at the Arms Fair in Belgrade.
The President of the Commission of the Government of Serbia for Missing Persons, Veljko Odalović, told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) that the essential de-escalation of the new crisis in Kosovo and Metohija (KiM) is the withdrawal of special units of the Kosovo Police from the north of Kosovo.
It indicates that since the beginning of the escalation in the north, the withdrawal of special units has been demanded, because their presence in the north of the Republic of Kosovo intensifies tensions and causes many problems.
"Since the escalation in the north began, we have been saying – people, remove the special units, leave the international security presence and guarantees of Kfor and that EULEX, whatever it is," says Odalović.
He points out that EULEX took over two pillars – the judiciary and the police and indiscriminately transferred them to Pristina.
"And what we have today is actually something that EULEX and KFOR should have done. Let me remind you, when the last escalation happened, the Italians sent 150 carabinieri. So, they can if they want, so now they didn't want to. They allowed Kurti to do this what he did, they tolerated him. This can be treated as Serb resistance to the terror that Kurti is carrying out and to which no one reacts," Odalović states.
(RTS)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, said that he does not know if the vice-president of the Serbian List, Milan Radoičić, is in the video released by the Minister of Police of Kosovo, but that it is "obvious" that it is not a video from the day of the attack in the north of Kosovo.
"I don't have any information whether he (Radoičić) is on the video or not, I really don't know," Dacić told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) on September 26, stating that the video "isn't from that day" and that a word about "prank".
On September 26, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Dželjalj Svečlja, published a video stating that it shows that Radoičić was among the armed persons who clashed with the Kosovo police in the Banjska monastery in the municipality of Zvečan in the north of Kosovo.
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"They keep trying to say that they are criminal groups, and the KLA are freedom fighters. They are also freedom fighters, if that's the case," Dacic said.
He also stated that Kosovo "is trying to prove and show that Milan Radoičić or Zvonko Veselinović were the ones who carried out these actions".
"They would most like to have come across (Milan) Mojsilović (Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Army) because they need a connection with Belgrade. They want to say that someone is importing it from the outside," said Dacic.
He also said that Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbi Kurti is "the only one to blame for everything that happened" and added that Belgrade does not justify any violent actions.
"We regret the killing of a policeman, the loss of Serb lives, that such an incident occurred that is not in Serbia's interest," Dacic said.
(Radio Free Europe)
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