The German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, called the request from Serbia to send troops to Kosovo completely unacceptable. Vucic has warned that Serbia will officially submit this request.
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić announced at the weekend that Serbia will officially request in the coming days that Serbian forces return to Kosovo, "as provided for by Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council". Vucic said that this request will be sent to the NATO mission in Kosovo, KFOR and other international authorities. At the same time, Vučič requested that the Kosovo Police cannot go to the north of the country without the consent of the mayors of the municipalities with a Serbian majority in this part of the country.
Use of weapons
The situation in the north of Kosovo has been tense in the last two months - after the decision of the Government of Kosovo to start the procedures for the re-registration of cars with license plates issued by the Serbian authorities. Then this problem was solved and temporarily suspended with the mediation of the American side. But the representatives of the Serbs in Kosovo and the Serbian policemen have withdrawn from the institutions and the Kosovo Police, while the mayors of the municipalities in the north have resigned. The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, had announced local elections in the north for December 18. But this decision has also been postponed until April of next year, in order to alleviate the created tensions and find a final solution for Kosovo-Serbia relations.
However, local Serbs have blocked several roads in the north, which has also resulted in the closure of two border crossing points in the north. There have also been armed attacks against the Kosovo Police and EULEX. The president of Serbia has taken this strain as a trigger for the request that Serbian forces return to Kosovo.
"Kosovo has eased tensions, Serbia is doing the opposite"
In the meantime, EU and NATO authorities have also reacted, asking for a reduction in tensions. Meanwhile, the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, in a reaction on Twitter, wrote that "Kosovo has reduced tensions by postponing the elections, but Serbia's recent rhetoric is doing the opposite." The head of German diplomacy called the attacks on the EU mission in Kosovo, EULEX, "unacceptable". A patrol of this mission was attacked on Saturday evening with a bomb by, as was said, armed persons in the northern part of Kosovo. Kosovo authorities have blamed "criminal gangs" led by Belgrade for these attacks. While Belgrade has declared Pristina guilty.