MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. NATO is highly likely to turn down Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s request for the deployment of forces in Kosovo and Metohija to ensure the security of the Serbs, Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said in on Monday.

"It is easy to imagine what kind of a response could be expected from a NATO commander. Naturally, he will say that it is unacceptable, will say that KFOR (a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo) <…> will guarantee the security of the Serbs," he said in an interview with the Zvezda television channel.

He drew attention to the fact that the KFOR mission includes an Albanian contingent. "It is crystal clear to anyone what this contingent will do, as will the entire KFOR in case of another spiral of tension. Naturally, they will side with Pristina, with the Kosovars," he noted.

The situation in northern Kosovo deteriorated again on December 10, when the Kosovo police detained Dejan Pantic, a former Serbian policeman, at the Jarinje checkpoint on the administrative border between Kosovo and Metohija, and central Serbia. In response, the Serb population erected barricades along a highway in several locations near the checkpoint and took to the streets to protest Pantic being taken to Pristina. KFOR (a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo) and EULEX (European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo) patrols have been pulled to the barricades.

Later in the day, Prime Minister of the unrecognized republic of Kosovo Albin Kurti demanded the Serbs remove the barricades by Sunday evening, warning that otherwise, the police would be sent out.