BELGRADE, May 31. /TASS/. The authorities of the unrecognized Kosovo are trying to occupy the north of Kosovo and Metohija, Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said on Wednesday.
"The security situation is extremely difficult due to Pristina’s unilateral, illegal, illegitimate decisions, and, above all, [due to the attempt], let’s call it as it is <…>, to occupy the north of Kosovo and Metohija by the Albanian administration of Pristina," Vucevic said.
The top military official recalled that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had repeatedly warned the international and the Serbian communities that Pristina’s unilateral actions may lead to the worst-case scenario, and "unfortunately, this is what has happened." Vucevic pointed out that the path of Prime Minister of the unrecognized republic of Kosovo Albin Kurti "leads to escalation, conflicts, injuries, shootings and everything we’ve seen."
The situation in the Leposavic, Zubin Potok, and Zvecan municipalities in northern Kosovo and Metohija escalated on May 26 after Kosovo law enforcement officers tried to seize local administration buildings to make it possible for the new mayors of these municipalities, who were elected despite nearly the entire Serb population boycotting the elections, take their offices. On May 29, the NATO-led international security force in Kosovo (KFOR) cordoned off the administrative buildings, clashing with the protesters.
According to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, fifty-two Serbs sought medical assistance in Kosovska Mitrovica. Three of them were badly wounded. The KFOR said that forty of its troops - servicemen from the Italian and Hungarian contingents - were wounded.
Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said on Monday that the Serbian army had been put on high alert following the escalation in Kosovo and Metohija and that army units had been deployed along the administrative border with Kosovo.