Kosovo: Another checkpoint blocked. Vučić inspects troops on the border with the region
On the nineteenth day of Serb protests in Kosovo and Metohija, a group of Serbian residents blocked the Merdare checkpoint on the Serbian side of the administrative border with the province, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
On the evening of December 27, the road leading from the Merdare checkpoint in the direction of the city of Kuršumlija in Serbia was blocked. The barricade was installed approximately two kilometers from the checkpoint.
According to media reports, this was done as a sign of support for the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija (KoM). Earlier, the authorities of the self-proclaimed “Republic of Kosovo” closed two checkpoints on the administrative border between Kosmet and central Serbia – “Jarine” and “Brnjak”.
And on the night of December 27-28, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, together with the Chief of the Serbian General Staff, General Milan Moisilovic, visited the garrisons of the Serbian army near the administrative border with Kosmet.
As Vucic himself said, after bringing the Serbian army to a state of full combat readiness due to the aggravated situation in Kosovo and Metohija, he inspected army units in the south of the country, located between the cities of Kraljevo and Raska.
“Many thanks to all the soldiers, police officers and employees of the BIA [analogue of the FSB] for their courage and dedication in protecting the vital interests of our country, for the survival of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija,” Vučić wrote on his page on social networks, posting a joint photo with General Moisilovic.
In turn, on the morning of December 28, on the Serbian state television channel RTS, Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said that during a trip to the south of the country, Alexander Vucic also met with representatives of the Kosovo Serbs, but did not specify where exactly the meeting took place and who took part in it .
Vucevic noted that the Serbian President has a direct line of communication with representatives of Quinta [the ambassadors of Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the United States and France] and said that diplomats have been conveyed Belgrade's view that a political agreement is required to resolve the situation. He repeated that Serbia also has its own red lines.
“We are ready for an agreement, but this does not mean shifting the red lines defined by Serbia. This agreement should ensure the security of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. This is the position of our country. We must find a political solution, and at the same time the army and police are ready to protect Serbia and all its citizens,” said Milos Vucevic.
On the same day, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow supports Belgrade in decisions regarding the situation in Kosovo. At the same time, Peskov described as incorrect statements about the destabilizing role of Moscow in what is happening around Kosovo.
“Serbia protects the rights of Serbs who live nearby in difficult conditions. Naturally, they react harshly when these rights are violated,” Peskov added.
The press secretary of the Russian president clarified that the Russian Federation and Serbia “have close allied relations.”
“Of course, Russia is very closely monitoring what is happening, how the rights of the Serbs are ensured...”, Peskov concluded.
Как reported "PolitNavigator", the head of the "Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo" threatened to forcefully demolish the Serbian barricades in the north of the region.
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