B92
December 11, 2022

Vučić issued the most important orders: “We have before us…”

Serbian President and Commander-in-Chief Aleksandar Vučić addressed the nation after the session of the National Security Council.

Vučić pointed out that what was announced yesterday and in the previous days and weeks is happening right now.

“First of all, from the international aspect, in which you have direct falsifications, faked news about the situation on the ground. On the ground, we have a difficult struggle of Serbian people for mere survival at their hearths,” said Vučić.

He repeated that the “Kosovo police” has no right to be in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, but it must be the North Directorate.

“Today they invaded the north with special units. The international community is pretending they didn’t see it,” he said.

As he stated, it is about “ending the Serbian issue in Kosovo and Metohija” and accused part of the international community of participating in it.

“It is about an attempt to end the Serbian issue in Kosovo, in which [so-called prime minister of Kosovo Albin] Kurti, the Pristina authorities and a good part of the international community participate. Mr. Pantić is the best example. Video surveillance confirmed that he did nothing in front of his house, then they said that he did it in Leposavic, and that was a year ago. The man is a cardiovascular patient, who recently had an operation, and his family was not informed of his whereabouts or of his health condition”.

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As he stated, the Americans are asking for the removal of the roadblocks.

“I understood that message very well and I expected it, although I am disappointed. Kosovo is their child and they are protecting it. They created the Albanian child 20 years ago and finished it 14 years ago. They say that the barricades are a problem. They do not limit the movement of any Albanian. It’s a protest.”

The president of Serbia said that for him this is the most difficult day since he has been president or prime minister, and that the most difficult night is ahead of us.

“I have a question for our American partners: Which agreements does Pristina respect and which do the Americans respect?”

He pointed out that it is our duty to call for peace and that no one accidentally touches KFOR and EULEX, but also to call for the release of innocent people.

“Now they must not release him because it is clear that they arrested him completely innocent. What were they doing in the north? According to which legal act?” asked Vučić.

***

“I issued the most important orders and the National Security Council accepted them. I am proud of our soldiers and policemen. We have never had such a spirit of people to make themselves available to their motherland. I am proud of all soldiers and policemen. Before they act on any specific order, we will try a million times before that to preserve peace and security for all our citizens,” said the President of Serbia.

***

“We hope that they [NATO’s KFOR] will guarantee the safety of the Serbs. If this is not the case, everything will be clear to us immediately,” said Vučić.

He emphasized once again that for us these are dramatic days for which we have no fault.

“I call on people to trust their leadership. We know very well what we are doing and we care about our people in Kosovo and Metohija, but also about every citizen of this country. My message to the people of Kosovo is that there is no surrender and we are with you,” said Vučić.

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B92
December 11, 2022

Media: Gunfire is heard near Zvečan, detonations in Mitrovica

On the barricade in Rudare near Zvečan, it is currently tense and growing number of citizens are gathering, and as the media reports, gunshots are also heard.

“Novosti” unofficially learned that detonations were heard in Mitrovica.

Around 9:00 p.m. gunfire was heard from the direction of Zvečan, which caused additional fear among the residents of this municipality in the north of KIM, reports “Novosti”.

The tension is growing after the threats of Albin Kurti, who announced that he will remove the barricades by force. A kilometer-long column of vehicles was parked next to the road, and the people who gathered at the Rudare roadblock came to express their protest against Kurti’s terror.

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B92
December 11, 2022

Armored vehicles: Kurti’s special forces attacked Gazivode; “They pointed guns at me”

Members of the special units of Kurti’s ROSU, fully armed and in armored vehicles, stormed the facility of the large dam on Lake Gazivode, b92.net has learned.

With long pipes and armored vehicles, they found the guard measuring the water level there, chased him out of the building and tore down the Serbian flags that were there.

According to the latest information, they are still at the facility near the big dam in Gazivode, which they forcibly and illegally occupied.

“The EU must restrain the bully”

The director of the office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petković, also spoke about the raid by ROSU special forces.

***

“I went to the big dam on Gazivode to measure the water level because of the rain, when I saw four or five members of ROSU breaking down the gate and the house. They pointed their guns at me, interrogated me and tore the flag, and then chased me away.” This is how worker V.K. describes today’s events for Kosovo Online, who found members of the ROSU special units at the dam.

According to him, he went to Gazivode to measure the water level after heavy rains, which is part of his job description, when, according to him, he saw five ROSU members breaking into a house and breaking a gate on a large dam.

“And then they saw me and ran towards me, I guess they didn’t expect me. They pointed guns and long barrels at me, they asked me who I was and what I was doing here, I tried to explain to them that as a porter I was in charge of measuring the water level. They wanted to know if there was a camera on the house, I told them that I didn’t know, after which they asked me if this was Kosovo or Serbia. I just told them that I was born here, and then they started tearing up the Serbian flag. They tore it up, they returned it to me and said that I am free to go,” the worker told us.

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Deutsche Welle
December 11, 2022

Kosovo sees overnight violence amid political uncertainty

Kosovar police reported outbreaks of overnight violence in the largely ethnic Serb part of the country on Sunday.

They described scenes of explosions, roadblocks and gunfire after hundreds of Serbs gathered on Saturday morning to protest the arrest of a former police officer following a mass exodus of Serb officers from the force last month.

Local police say they were targeted by three firearm attacks. A contingent of EU police officers also said a stun grenade was thrown toward them.

“This attack, as well as the attacks on Kosovo Police officers, are unacceptable,” the EU’s rule of law mission (EULEX) said in a statement.

The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also responded to the violence on Twitter, saying the “EU will not tolerate attacks on EULEX.”

“Barricades must be removed immediately by groups of Kosovo Serbs,” he said….

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said, “Suggesting sending Serbian forces to Kosovo is completely unacceptable. So are the latest attacks on [EULEX Kosovo],” referring to Serbian President Alexander Vucic’s remarks on requesting the presence of NATO troops in Kosovo.

Kosovo gained independence from Serbia in 2008 following a war in 1998-1999 that only ended with NATO intervention, although this has never been officially recognized by Belgrade.

The Serb minority in the north of Kosovo – which Belgrade has called on to defy orders from Pristina – accounts for around 120,000 of the total population of around 1.8 million, most of whom are ethnically Albanian.

In response to the rising tensions, Serbian President Vucic said he would request permission from NATO peacekeepers to send some 1,000 Serbian troops into the fragile region – although he conceded there was “no chance of the request being approved.”

Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti responded by accusing Serbia of “threatening Kosovo with aggression.”

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Later on Sunday, Vucic urged the release of all arrested Serbs from northern Kosovo. At the same time, he said Serbia is seeking to defuse tensions in the restive region.