FILE PHOTO: An emergency meeting of the National Security Council of Serbia under the leadership of President Vucic on the situation in Kosovo has begun.
"Today we agreed on the text which, according to Resolution 1244 of the United Nations Security Council, we will send to the KFOR commander asking to ensure the deployment of the army and police of the Republic of Serbia in Kosovo and Metohija, in accordance with the [UN] Security Council resolution. As we agreed with Prime Minister [Ana Brnabic] today, the government's decision will be released on Monday or Tuesday," the president said.
Vucic calls on Serbians and Albanians in Kosovo to preserve peace, alleges Pristina's 'policy of terror'
"Today, we discussed what we are to do. It is important for us to call on both the Albanians and the Serbs for preserving peace and pacifying the situation," he told Serbia's national television after an emergency meeting of the National Security Council called following the aggravation of the situation in northern Kosovo.
He also called on the Serbs in northern Kosovo to stay calm and not to yield to provocations.
"We have taken corresponding measures to defend our motherland. I have issued important orders and the National Security Council has accepted them. I am proud of our soldiers and policemen. Before they receive an order to raise the combat alertness level, we will try a million of times to preserve peace," he said.
According to Vucic, Pristina's policy of terror is meant to do away with the "Serb problem" in Kosovo and Metohija.
"They [the Kosovo police] intruded with special units [to Kosovo's territories populated by Serbs] today, as they did yesterday and the day before yesterday, but the international community is pretending not to see them <...>. It looks like an attempt of doing away with the Serb problem in northern Kosovo and Metohija, which involves not only [Prime Minister of unrecognized Kosovo Albin] Kurti and the Pristina authorities, but also a larger part of the international community, which is pretending it doesn't see what is going on," he said.
National Security Council meeting
The Serbian National Security Council meeting was called over the aggravation of the situation in northern Kosovo after the Kosovo police detained Dejan Pantic, a former Serb policeman, at the Jarinje checkpoint on the administrative border between Kosovo and Metohija, and central Serbia. In response, the Serb population erected barricades in a highway in several settlements near the checkpoint and took to the streets in protest not to let Pantic be 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.
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Later, Prime Minister of the unrecognized republic of Kosovo Albin Kurti demanded the Serbs remove the barricades by Sunday evening, warning that police would be deployed otherwise.
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