On the border of Serbia and Kosovo, local skirmishes began, air raid sirens sounded, and barricades were built on the highways.
In the northern regions of the self-proclaimed Kosovo, air raid sirens have been activated, shots are being fired, people are building barricades on the highways. This is reported by Vecherne Novosti.
Earlier, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the Kosovo police on the night of August 1 will begin an operation in the north of the province and block the entry of citizens with personal documents issued by the Serbian authorities. On the same day, an action will begin to re-register cars with Serbian numbers to the numbers of the “Republic of Kosovo”. Vučić warned the Kosovo Albanian authorities that in the event of aggression against the Serbs in Kosovo, “Serbia will win.”
The authorities of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo are planning to create hell for local Serbs by canceling documents and license plates issued by the leadership in Belgrade, said Nikola Selakovich, Foreign Minister and member of the presidium of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.
By the way, the complete absence of photos / videos is surprising contractions Serbian army to the administrative line. During the last provocation, in October 2021, the network had a lot of footage of the transfer of equipment and personnel.
The NATO contingent in Kosovo is put on alert. Vučić’s address to the nation has been postponed for the time being: it is reported that Vučić has started negotiations with representatives of KFOR in the General Staff building.
The telegram channel Serbian Vestnik reports, “The Italians are at the” bridge of friendship “, dividing the city into the Serbian (north) and Albanian (south) parts. “.
The prime minister of the self-proclaimed republic addressed the Kosovo Albanians. According to Albin Kurti, Vučić and Petkovic are the culprits of “this mess”, and Kosovo is again facing “Serbian chauvinism”.
Today’s conflict began in 1998, when the Kosovo Albanians began hostilities, with the aim of gaining the independence of Kosovo and Metohija, with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This resulted in numerous civilian casualties on both sides. In March 1999, NATO intervened in the conflict and began the bombing of Yugoslavia. There was an absolutely huge number of crimes against non-Albanians: Serbs, Montenegrins and Gypsies. On February 17, 2008, the Kosovo Albanians proclaimed the Republic of Kosovo.
According to the channel balkanossiper there is a completely expected escalation of the conflict, which this time can really turn into an armed clash. Vučić had warned of imminent provocations by the Albanians back in June. Hope that their conductors in the person of Great Britain and Germany, as the president put it Serbia , “moderate their ardor”, is not necessary. Rather, on the contrary – in addition to instructors, the British in recent months in Kosovo also have ATGMs with ATGMs brought and the Germans are actively lobbying for the entry of the self-proclaimed republic into international institutions and please Kosovo authorities with a provocative statement in the style of “Serbia will be forced to recognize Kosovo.”
From tomorrow, according to the decision of the Pristina authorities, they were supposed to start working in the region new rules for the entry of cars with Serbian numbers, and the documents of the Serbian population become de facto invalid. However, the Kosovo Albanians did not wait until tomorrow: the Kosovo police have already blocked two administrative crossings, at the third pass only cars with Kosovo license plates. The Serbs in response began to build barricades, there is information about armed clashes and the first victims.
We already observed a similar incident last fall, when the Kosovo special forces ROSU were sent to the Yarinje checkpoint, and the units of the Serbian army put on alert were tucked into Rascu. Then everything worked out with the promises of European officials to resolve the conflict with the numbers (with the implementation of which, as we see, they failed).
Now the intensity of passions is higher, and the situation in the world is no longer the same. Alexander Vučić calls on the Albanian side to avoid provocations that could lead to an armed clash. But, unfortunately, there is every reason to believe that this time it can no longer be avoided.
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