Authorities in self-proclaimed Kosovo allow attacks on Serbs to provoke backlash, tension and crisis, Petar Petkovic, director of the Kosovo and Metohija office for the Serbian government, is said in a statement.
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This is how he reacted to the incident in the north of the region, in the area of Bistritsa bridge, where last night the Kosovo police fired at the car of a local Serb. According to Petkovic, the taxi driver, the father of three children, was injured.
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“At this infamous, illegal checkpoint near the Bistrica Bridge, the Kosovo police stop and abuse Serbs every day, not only there, but also in other places in the north of the province. We have repeatedly stated that they have no right to be in the north of Kosovo, especially with automatic weapons. Pristina and Albin Kurti violate all agreements, they want to provoke a reaction from the Serbs, they need tension and conflict in order to avoid the formation of the Community of Serb Communities,” Petkovic was quoted as saying by the office’s website.
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The official noted that since March 2021, after Kurti took over as prime minister of the self-proclaimed republic, about 300 ethnic incidents have occurred in Kosovo, in which Serbs, their property or spiritual and cultural heritage have suffered.
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Milan Jovanovic from Zvecan was wounded in the shooting near the Bistrica bridge. It is assumed that soldiers of the ROSU special unit of the Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs opened fire on his car. The bullet hit Jovanovic in the right side of the chest, he was operated on at the Clinical Hospital Center of Kosovska Mitrovica.
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Last week, another round of talks between Belgrade and Pristina took place in Brussels, where the formation of a Community of Serb Communities was discussed. Following the meeting, the head of the Kosovo delegation, Besnik Bislimi, announced that some agreements had been reached on forms of self-government for the Kosovo Serbs, but then put forward conditions unacceptable to Belgrade.
After that, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that Kosovo Serbs would not participate in municipal elections in the north of the region, and accused Pristina of pursuing a policy that “serves the ethnic cleansing of Serb-populated areas.” Nevertheless, he promised to develop an action plan by April 14.
