Serbia has threatened to return the army to the territory of Kosovo. The director of the so-called Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, has said that Serbia is considering the possibility of sending 1000 security forces to the territory of Kosovo, a few hours after the Kosovo Police increased its presence in the north of the country.
In a press conference on Thursday evening, Petkovic said that there are currently 300-350 members of the Kosovo Police in the north, including members of the special unit, although this has been denied by the institutions of Kosovo, reports "N1".
He has accused the Government of Kosovo of "violent actions" and "attempted occupation of the north".
He said that "Belgrade will consider the return of up to 1000 security forces to the territory of Kosovo, in accordance with Resolution 1244, in particular article 4 of this resolution and article 6 of the second annex".
Petkovic, at the conference in Belgrade, said that "the West and Prishtina" should understand what the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, meant when he said that "he will never allow another 'Storm'".
According to him, the Government of Kosovo is "making the Serbs suffer".
On Thursday, Kosovo Police increased their presence in the north, following attacks in northern municipalities in the past two days, as municipal election officials attempted to open their offices in these municipalities in preparation for local elections.
Elections for mayors of four municipalities in the north: North Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Leposaviq and Zveçan, are scheduled to be held on December 18. Meanwhile, the elections for municipal assemblies in Zveçan and Leposaviq municipalities will be held on December 25.
On Tuesday in Zubin-Potok and North Mitrovica, municipal election officials and police officers, while trying to open the offices of the Municipal Electoral Commissions, were attacked with stun grenades and shots in the air, by unknown persons. As a result of this, they have been unable to continue the preparatory process for the extraordinary elections in the north. There were also attacks in the north on Wednesday.
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Xhelal Sveçla, said that the increased presence was done with the aim of providing security for citizens in the north.
The United States of America has officially requested that these elections be postponed, due to security, while Sweden has said that a recommendation on this matter will be issued soon by the security institutions.
