Serbian President Vucic threatens to intervene in Kosovok
President Vucic assures he will ‘protect his people from persecution and genocide’
Source: Darko Vojinovich/AP/DPA
For years the EU has been trying to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia – without success. In a speech, the Serbian president called on NATO to protect the Serb minority in Kosovo from attacks. If not, Serbia itself will intervene.
DSerbian President Aleksandar Vucic has called on NATO to protect the Serb minority in Kosovo from attacks. If the Western military alliance fails to work, Serbia itself could be forced to intervene, Vucic said in a televised speech on Sunday. “If NATO does not want to do this, we will protect our people from persecution and genocide.” The multinational KFOR force, led by NATO, with around 4,000 troops, is stationed in Kosovo.
Kosovo broke away from Serbia in 1999 and declared independence in 2008, but it was never recognized by the government in Belgrade, and neither did Serbia’s important ally Russia. For years, the EU has been trying to normalize relations between the two states, which Brussels sees as a precondition for possible membership in the Alliance of States. A crisis meeting in Brussels ended on Thursday without a deal, including a dispute over new entry rules for Serbs in Kosovo.
Vucic claimed in his speech that a “gang” of Kosovar Albanians are invading northern Kosovo, where most ethnic Serbs live. They have to be stopped. He did not present any evidence for this. At the same time, the Serbian president also emphasized that his government would work towards a settlement in the dispute over the entry rules before they come into force on 1 September.
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