BELGRADE, May 28. /TASS/. Military agencies of the self-proclaimed republic of Kosovo seized control over railways and administrative buildings in the region’s north owned by Serbian Railways, the Kosovo Online portal said.

Cyrillic lettering was removed from all buildings, and Kosovo flags hoisted on all of them. According to Kosovo’s acting Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla, Pristina plans to incorporate the rail network in the north into its infrastructure reconstruction project.

The Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija said the Kosovo authorities resorted to this step fearing defeat at the upcoming early parliamentary elections.

The self-proclaimed republic will vote in parliamentary polls on June 7. It will be the fifth vote in the last 16 months.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 that was passed on June 10, 1999, confirms that Kosovo and Metohija is an autonomy within Serbia. Kosovo’s authorities unilaterally declared independence in February 2008. More than 60 world nations, including Russia, India, China, and five European Union countries, refuse to recognize Kosovo’s independence.

In recent years, he Kosovo authorities have shut down practically all Serbian government institutions in Kosovo’s northern areas, where ethnic Serbs make up the majority of the population. Pristina-controlled police forces regularly conduct raids against local Serbs, detaining them under various pretexts.