BELGRADE. The alert status of the Serbian Armed Forces has been raised to the highest level. The announcement by Belgrade’s defense minister, Milos Vucevic, reflects an ever-high tension between Serbia and neighboring Kosovo, whose independence proclaimed in 2008 has never been recognized by Belgrade. On 10 December, ethnic Serbs – the majority in the north of the former Belgrade province – erected barricades to protest the arrest of a former police officer suspected of involvement in attacks against ethnic Albanian policemen.
Kosovo, still tensions in the north: Serbian citizens block the roads
This was joined by shootings, the latest of which occurred on Sunday. Yesterday Vucevic reported the president’s order to “prepare the army to the state of maximum combat readiness, which corresponds to the level of recourse to armed force”. The head of state Aleksandar Vucic, the same source announced, has also ordered a strengthening of the special armed forces, bringing their number from 1,500 to 5,000. The Interior Ministry also established that “all units will immediately be placed under the command of the Chief of Staff”.
Vucic’s decisions follow the visit of army commander in chief Milan Mojsilovic yesterday to the border with Kosovo, where the situation – he said – “is complicated and difficult”. Last week, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic spoke of a situation on the verge of an armed conflict with Serbia, while the Kosovar Security Council, meeting on Sunday, blamed Belgrade for the deterioration of relations, caused by “acting with all means available against the established order of the Republic of Kosovo”.