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This is evident from a statement from the Kosovo government on Saturday evening, which was also sent by email to the German Press Agency. The advance serves “a possible military aggression against the Republic of Kosovo.”

Anti-aircraft defenses and artillery positioned?

Units of the Second Brigade of the Serbian Army moved from the direction of Raska towards the northern border of Kosovo, units of the Third Brigade from the Nis region towards the northeastern border and units of the Fourth Brigade from the Vranje region towards the eastern border. the government in Pristina wrote further.

On Friday, Serbia sent army and police to 48 forward bases along the border with Kosovo, on Serbian territory a few kilometers from the border with Kosovo. Serbia deployed anti-aircraft systems and heavy artillery. In coordination with international partners, Kosovo is “more determined than ever to protect its territorial integrity,” the government statement said.

Vucic denies it

Serbian President Aleksander Vucic denied any intention of a military attack on Kosovo in an interview with the Financial Times on Saturday. Instead, he will order the withdrawal of Serbian troops, saying an escalation would be “counterproductive” for Belgrade’s EU aspirations. Serbia will not destroy its own years of efforts. “Serbia does not want war,” he told the newspaper.

The Foreign Ministry in Berlin called on the Serbian government in Belgrade to de-escalate. “It is important that Serbia immediately reduces troops at the border,” the agency wrote on internet platform X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday. Berlin and its partners are in “intensive contact” with all parties. The political process must continue “urgently”.

On Friday, Washington expressed concern about the build-up of Serbian forces on the border with Kosovo. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on the phone with Vucic, who denied the deployment of large troops and spoke of “falsehoods”.

Armed attack in northern Kosovo as trigger

The reason for the new tensions was the attack last Sunday by a thirty-man, heavily armed Serbian commando unit on Kosovo police officers in the town of Banjska near Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. Three Serb attackers and a Kosovo police officer were killed.

Kosovo’s top Serbian politician and businessman Milan Radoicic claimed responsibility for this attack. He claimed that he carried out the action on his own initiative and had not informed any official authorities in Serbia. The government in Pristina considers it impossible for Radoicic to do it alone.

Kosovo, now inhabited almost exclusively by Albanians, seceded from Serbia in 1999 with NATO help and declared independence in 2008. More than a hundred countries, including Switzerland, recognize independence, but not Serbia, which reclaims its former province. (sda/dpa)