Kosovo president, forces temporarily enter Serbian region

Kosovo’s Special Forces have made their way into a Serbian enclave while escorting Kosovar President Hashim Thaci, prompting Serbia to put its armed forces on high combat alert.

According to Press TV, troops from the Regional Operational Support Unit (ROSU), which provides personal protection to VIPs, were deployed around the Gazivode Lake and hydro-power plant on Saturday to provide security for Thaci, who had entered the area apparently without coordination with Serbian authorities.

The forces also reportedly entered the Center for Ecology and Sport Development in Zubin Potok Town near the power plant. Shortly afterwards, they left the area.

Several Serbian citizens were reportedly detained during the brief incursion.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic ordered the Serbian military on the highest combat alert level, and Serbia’s Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic also ordered Serbian police to place all special police units in the state on the highest alert.

“Serbia informed all the international institutions about the incident at Gazivode, but we haven’t received any response neither from the EU nor the NATO… Serbia also warned the official Pristina as well as the international community that it won’t tolerate any form of violence against Serbs,” Marco Duric, the Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija in the Serbian government, said.

He said the ROSU Special Forces, masked and armed with rifles, had been deployed to the Gazivode Lake so that President Thaci and his associates could go there, take a walk, and take a couple of photos.

“In order to do this, they had to remove all the people standing in their way, they had to apprehend all the Serbs who were there at the time,” Djuric said at a press conference. “They barged into the Ecology and Sports Centre, where they apprehended people for no reason, with the aim of intimidating the Serbs living in Kosovo.”

Kosovo’s Thaci described the incident as a friendly excursion to Gazivode, where he spent some 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, protesters staged a rally in central Pristina on Saturday to protest against a possible territory swap with Serbia proposed by Thaci.

Opposition Vetevendosje Party Leader Albin Kurti was among the protesters, who marched through the city.

ME