Troops on alert on the border with Kosovo

The Serbian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Serbia had raised the alert level of its army near Kosovo, accusing its neighbor of “…provocations“After the recent deployment of a special police force in the region, a new bout of fever broke out between Belgrade and Pristina.

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The Kosovo Police Special Forces were deployed on Monday near two border crossings in northern Kosovo, an area inhabited by most Serbs who reject the authority of the Kosovo government.

This troop deployment, which angered the Serbs, followed the decision of the Kosovo government to ban entry to its territory of vehicles bearing Serbian license plates.reciprocity measure“, according to Pristina. Hundreds of Serbs have since protested against this decision and have stopped traffic on roads leading to two border points with trucks.”After the provocations of the ROSU units, which were in northern Kosovo a week ago, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic issued the order to raise the alert status of some units of the Serbian army and police”, we read in a press release from the Serbian Ministry of Defense.

Serbian fighter jets flew over the border area again late Sunday morning, after making several flights on Saturday, an AFP reporter immediately reported. On Sunday morning, Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic visited these forces on alert at two military bases, one of which is a few kilometers from the border, as well as “battle groups“Spread”In the direction of the administrative corridor of JarinjeAccording to the same source.

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The border crossings between Serbia and Kosovo are classified as “Administrative CorridorsBelgrade, which does not recognize the independence declared by its former territory in 2008.

The statement said that Minister Stefanovic was accompanied during his visit to the Armed Forces by the Commander of the Armed Forces, General Milan Mogsilovic, and the Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Alexander Botsan Kharchenko.

Russia also does not recognize the independence of Kosovo, unlike most Western countries, including the United States. For its part, Albania,”Concerned about the escalation of the situationI asked Belgrade through its diplomacy,To withdraw the armed forces deployed on the border with Kosovo». «Because of developments in the north of the countryIts cabinet said Kosovo President Fyuzha Osmani boycotted her visit to New York on Saturday, where she was attending the United Nations General Assembly, to return to Kosovo.

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