KOSOVAPRESS

The pressure on the Serbs in the north comes directly from the BIA and the dictator Vucic

The Serbian analyst who lives in the north of Kosovo, Branislav Kërstic, speaking openly about the threats and intimidation of the Serbian population in the north who want to accept the independence and the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo, says that the blackmail and pressure on them comes directly from the secret service Serbian BIA and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic.

During a conversation with KosovaPress, he admitted the presence and activity of criminal groups in that part, which he said were developed through the Serbian List.

Kërstic also spoke about the newly recruited Serbian cadets in the Kosovo Police who resigned, saying that they were an isolated project and out of the control of the president of Serbia and the Serbian List.

Even the director of the Police for the northern region, Veton Elshani, said that the danger in terms of threats to Serbian policemen comes from Serbia and the groups sponsored by this country.

According to him, this is a problem that should be solved at the political level more than at the operational level on the ground.

He, due to recent police and political developments, did not want to mention exact numbers of young Serbian policemen who have recently resigned.

However, Aleksandar Arsenijevic, leader of the Citizen Initiative ‘Serbian Survival’ in the north of Mitrovica, said that the resigned cadets have applied the previous experience of their compatriots who have left certain institutions of Kosovo, to receive financial compensation from Serbia.

In this way, he added, these police cadets already have contracts with the state of Serbia, through which they receive salaries from Belgrade and are not forced to work.

On the other hand, the European Union has expressed concern about the resignation of young Serbian policemen, strongly condemning the threats against these members of the police, and demanding their immediate stop.

“Continuous small-scale attacks by criminal groups and intimidation of newly recruited Serbian cadets in the Kosovo police, as well as threats against the local population, are unacceptable and must be stopped immediately,” the EU statement said, among other things.

Since the end of the war, in the north of the country, criminal groups have developed in an uncontrolled manner, because with the end of the war, the tensions in that part did not end. Every time the institutions of Kosovo made a decision regarding the extension of sovereignty there, these groups appeared which were financed by the official Belgrade. ‘Cuvari Mosta’, ‘Civilna Zastita’, ‘Delije’, ‘Bradonje’ and others are just some of these groups where high-level structures of Serbia are involved, some of which are sanctioned by the United States of America. That these criminal groups are still present and the north of Kosovo remains a source of instability was also proven by the events of May of this year, where exactly these groups attacked policemen, KFOR soldiers and journalists, and the situation almost escalated into a new conflict. Whereas the Government of Kosovo has declared two of these groups, ‘Civilna Zastita’ and ‘Severna Brigada’ terrorist organizations.