The deployment of Serbian troops on the Kosovo border is reminiscent of Russia’s behavior before it launched its invasion of Ukraine, the Kosovo foreign minister said, quoted by Reuters.
Aleksandar Vucic with Vladimir PutinPhoto: Mikhail Klimentyev / Sputnik / Profimedia
The warning comes after the United States said on Friday it was monitoring a worrying deployment of military forces by Serbia on its border with Kosovo, while NATO said it had authorized the deployment of additional peacekeepers to Pristina.
“There has never been such a concentration of troops in recent years,” Donika Gervalla-Schwarz, Kosovo’s foreign minister, said in an interview with public radio station Deutschlandfunk on Monday.
“The weaponry they have there, the tanks… it gives us an uneasy feeling because we don’t know how the international community will react,” Gervalla-Schwarz added.
She pointed out that it is not only the concentration of Serbian troops on the country’s border that reminds of Russia’s behavior towards Ukraine before the start of the invasion, but also Belgrade’s “rhetoric” and “methods”.
“That is why it is all the more important that we take the necessary measures,” she concluded.
Serbia has given assurances that it will not invade Kosovo
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said last week that he did not intend to order his forces to cross the border into Kosovo because an escalation of the dispute would harm Serbia’s ambitions to enter the European Union.
Tensions between the two countries flared again after a clash between Kosovo police and armed ethnic Serbs barricading themselves in a monastery turned an otherwise peaceful village in northern Kosovo into a battlefield 10 days ago .
Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, accuses Belgrade of supporting and arming Serbian fighters on its territory.
Serbia instead accuses the government in Pristina of encouraging violence by failing to implement an EU-brokered deal a decade ago that provides autonomy for Serbs in northern Kosovo, where they are the majority population.
“Vucic will not let things go if clear things are not said and he does not foresee repercussions for his actions,” Gervalla-Schwarz warned, adding that Serbia could be threatened with the suspension of European funds and even its EU accession process .
