Kosovo’s Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla has claimed that Serbia is working afoot to destabilise the country by taking help from Russia.
He alleged that Serbia has been inciting the Serb minority in the north who, under Moscow’s influence, have been blocking roads and protesting for almost three weeks.
The tensions between the two countries are at an all-time high as Serbia said it had put its army on the highest combat alert.
“It is precisely Serbia, influenced by Russia, that has raised a state of military readiness and that is ordering the erection of new barricades, in order to justify and protect the criminal groups that terrorize… citizens of Serb ethnicity living in Kosovo,” Svecla said in a statement.
For the past two weeks, the Serbs in northern Kosovo have been agitating against the arrest of a former Serb policeman who had allegedly assaulted serving police officers. They have blocked multiple roads in and around Mitrovica and also clashed with the police.
Responding to Svecla’s claims, Serbia refuted the charges that it is trying to destabilise its neighbour and said that it just wants to protect its minority there.
Tension flare up at Serbia-Kosovo border, troops deployed in the region
“Serbia would continue to fight for peace and seek compromise solutions,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday, reports Reuters news agency.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with the backing of the West, following a 1998-1999 war in which NATO intervened to protect ethnic Albanian citizens.
It is not a member of the United Nations and five EU states —Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus — have refused to recognise Kosovo’s statehood.
Russia, Serbia’s historical ally, is blocking Kosovo’s membership in the United Nations.
According to an estimate, around 50,000 Serbs live in the northern part of Kosovo. They refuse to recognise the local Pristina state and see Belgrade as their capital.
(With inputs from agencies)
