Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has aid during the meeting with the Serbs from Kosovo in Raška on Wednesday, that he had told the EU’s special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina negotiations, Miroslav Lajčak, “to restrain Pristina, and if they are not capable – we will restrain them.”
“They told me – ‘we are working on it’,” Vučić explained, saying that Pristina had the support for the police operation in northern Kosovo from at least one western country.
He told the Serbs that “whatever happens, Serbia and Belgrade will be there with you.” He said that some of the great powers in the West wanted “a destabilisation” of this area so that they could more easily manipulate the processes and weaken Serbia.
A large number of Serbs from Kosovo spoke before Vučić, requesting that he promises to “stand with and defend” them.
Ten Serbs were injured, two of them seriously, during the conflict with the Kosovo special police forces in Northern Kosovska Mitrovica and Zvečan, according to the director of the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica.
The Kosovo police conducted a law enforcement operation against an organised drug trafficking network in several parts of Kosovo. During the operation, eight people were arrested, among them one Serb and one Bosniak.
Several journalists were injured during the operation.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti explained that the anti-smuggling operation was in close collaboration between the prosecution office and the police.
He called on Kosovo Serbs not to fall for the disinformation published by some Serbian language media, which portrayed the situation as a political and ethnic conflict.
The EU’s high representative Josep Borrell called on Wednesday for an end to violence in the northern part of Kosovo.
“Unilateral and uncoordinated actions that endanger stability are unacceptable. All open issues must be addressed through the EU-facilitated dialogue (of Belgrade and Pristina),” Borrell tweeted. He added that he was in permanent contact with Belgrade and Pristina. /compiled by argumentum from wires
