Serbian armed forces have been on “the best stage” of alert, Defence Minister Milos Vucevic stated Monday, highlighting the Balkan nation’s more and more strained relations with neighbouring Kosovo over latest shootings and blockades.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, however Belgrade has refused to recognise it and inspired Kosovo’s 120,000 ethnic Serbs to defy Pristina’s authority — particularly within the north the place ethnic Serbs make up the bulk.

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The Serbian military has been placed on a heightened state of alert over tensions with Kosovo a number of occasions lately — the final time in November after claiming that a number of drones entered Serbian airspace from Kosovo.

On December 10, Serbs in northern Kosovo arrange barricades to protest towards the arrest of an ex-policeman suspected of being concerned in assaults towards ethnic Albanian cops.

The blockades have coincided with an increase in reported shootings, the newest on Sunday, in keeping with NATO-led peacekeeping pressure KFOR.

“Serbia’s president… ordered the Serbian military to be on the best stage of fight readiness, that’s to the extent of the usage of armed pressure,” Defence Minister Milos Vucevic stated in an announcement.

He added that President Aleksandar Vucic additionally ordered the particular armed forces to be beefed up from the prevailing 1,500 to five,000.

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Serbia’s inside ministry additionally introduced that “all items (will) instantly come underneath the command of the chief of common employees”.

These orders from Vucic come after military chief Common Milan Mojsilovic was dispatched to the border with Kosovo on Sunday.

“The state of affairs there’s sophisticated and complicated,” Mojsilovic stated Sunday.

– Defying authorities –

Northern Kosovo has been particularly on edge since November when a whole lot of ethnic Serb staff within the Kosovo police in addition to the judicial department, comparable to judges and prosecutors, walked off the job.

They have been protesting a controversial determination to ban Serbs dwelling in Kosovo from utilizing Belgrade-issued licence plates — a coverage that was finally scrapped by Pristina.

However the mass walkouts created a safety vacuum in Kosovo.

Pristina tried to schedule the December 18 native elections in Serb-majority municipalities — nevertheless it was postponed after the announcement induced widespread outrage and the primary Serb political celebration stated it will stage a boycott.

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Then on December 10, an ex-policeman suspected of involvement in assaults towards ethnic Albanian cops was arrested, outraging ethnic Serbs who erected the barricades that paralysed visitors round two border crossings.

Simply hours after the barricades have been erected, Kosovo police stated they suffered three successive firearm assaults on one of many roads resulting in the border.

KFOR, which has elevated its presence and patrols within the area in latest months, stated the newest bout of violence got here Sunday, when pictures have been fired within the course of Latvian troopers embedded with the pressure, Kosovo’s defence ministry tweeted.

KFOR stated it was investigating the incident, and added there have been “no accidents or materials harm”.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic stated final week the state of affairs with Kosovo was “on the point of armed battle”.

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However Kosovo’s safety council — which met Monday — blamed Serbia for the newest deterioration in relations.

It accused Serbia of “appearing with all out there means towards the constitutional order of the Republic of Kosovo”.

Serbs account for about 120,000 of Kosovo’s 1.8 million inhabitants, which is predominantly ethnic Albanians.