Pristina wants to send the KSF to the north without the permission of KFOR, what would that mean for the Serbs?

At a time when all eyes are on Pristina to make moves in the direction of de-escalation insisted on by the US, the EU, and NATO, Ejup Maqedonci, the new Minister of Defense in the Government of Albin Kurti, says that he expects that the Kosovo Security Forces will be able to go north without permission of KFOR. For the interlocutors of Kosovo Online, Maqedonci's desire for KSF in areas with a Serb majority population is dangerous and does not contribute to calming the crisis, and is a continuation of the pressure on the Kosovo Serbs, but also on Belgrade.

They also point out that the other messages that Maqedonci sent in the first interview he gave since becoming the Minister of Defense were obviously chosen to serve as a function of Pristina's constant provocations.

Namely, Maqedonci drew a parallel between the KSF and the KLA, in which he was one of the commanders, and said that "the KSF will be ready to defend Kosovo when it becomes necessary." He did not fail to speak "about the bases that Serbia has near Kosovo" and which "keeps awake" the KSF.

Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said that at a time when Kurti was daily fueling conflicts and causing tensions and provocations in the north, Maqedonci's message - that KSF would soon operate in the area of northern Kosovo, could not be understood differently than as an open threat. Petkovic reminded of the guarantees from 2013, by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, as well as the guarantees given by NATO on December 28 last year, according to which the KSF could not go to the north without their consent.

The former head of diplomacy of the FRY, Vladislav Jovanovic, tells Kosovo Online that mentioning the possibility of the KSF returning to the north in a situation of heightened tensions and when efforts are being made to de-escalate is throwing "fuel into the fire".

"It is not so important what the representatives of Pristina say, but what their 'parents' from the West will say about all this and how far they will allow them to go. They know very well that this is a provocation and throwing 'fuel into the fire', but they obviously estimate that now is the moment to increase the comprehensive pressure on Serbia and the Serbs from Kosovo, which will not cross the limit of what is allowed, but can force us to soften and finally accept the fait accompli of independent Kosovo," Jovanovic says.

Jovanovic sees the fact that Maqedonci wishes that the KSF can move arbitrarily in the north at a time when Pristina is expected to take the steps in the direction of the de-escalation it committed to, as a "gradation of escalation created by Kurti".

"He constantly presents positions and makes moves that are more irritating, inflaming, and disturbing, both for the Serbs in Kosovo and for Belgrade. The expectation is that this could unbalance either the Serbs in Kosovo or Belgrade itself and that they interpret it as something that can no longer be tolerated and react accordingly. And then to accuse the Serbian side of being the main culprit of instability and crisis. For now, the West, led by the USA and KFOR, is monitoring this, and they are not allowing those provocations, arriving from Pristina, to cross the border of an uncontrolled state," he points out.

He also indicates that Maqedonci admitted that the agreement between Kosovo and NATO is in force, according to which the KSF is not allowed to go north without the permission of the KFOR commander.

"But he immediately adds that he hopes that this will change soon, with new political agreements. It is also not negligible that, practically in the same package with the departure of KSF to the north, he also mentioned the KLA, of which he was a member, indicating that that terrorist organization shaped him and that it is the basis of everything. And that is another provocation. Although even without his messages, it is obvious that the KSF is the renamed KLA. It has 'frozen' its terrorist activities, but its political goals, which now they should be implemented with the help of the KSF - Kosovo only for the Albanians, Kosovo outside of Serbia," Jovanovic says.

He indicates that what Maqedonci and other representatives of the authorities in Pristina wish and are trying to do will be possible only to the extent that the US allows it.

"Certainly, what Maqedonci is saying increases the insecurity in which the Serbs from the north live. I hope that those in NATO, KFOR, and the USA will have enough understanding and comprehension that the situation is far from the point of completely canceling Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council and all other agreements and to allow the KSF to roam around the north whenever and however they want. I would also like to point out that Maqedonci did not fail to mention the Serbian bases along the administrative line and that he immediately added that the KSF would be ready to defend Kosovo. He obviously wants to create an atmosphere of threats to Kosovo, although no one is threatening them, on the contrary, it is the Serbs from the north who are being threatened and who are kept in a state of constant uncertainty, and it is Pristina that is a threat to peace in the entire region," our interlocutor says.

The former President of the Executive Council of Kosovo and Metohija, Zoran Andjelkovic, believes that Maqedonci's statement is a part of Pristina's and Kurti's "road map of provocations", especially in the north.

"The provocations are daily and each new one aims to 'discredit' the previous moves directed against the Kosovo Serbs so that we and the international community deal with them less. For example, we do not know if and where 25 percent of the police officers from the municipal building withdrew; they stopped the construction of social housing and the University building in North Mitrovica, they want to evict Serbian institutions from the building in Bosniak Mahala... The list is long, and each new provocation pushes the previous one into the background. Not to mention that three months have passed without the illegitimately elected mayors neither leaving the municipal facilities in the north nor submitting their resignations," Andjelkovic told Kosovo Online.

He warns that allowing the KSF to be present in the north would be disastrous not only for the Kosovo Serbs but also a threat to the stability of the entire region.

"That would be a completely insane thing, one lawlessness that is tolerated by Kurti. He declares himself a fighter for democracy and against corruption, and affairs are shaking the Pristina Government, from the arrest of a member of his Self-Determination for drug smuggling to a series of scandals related to commodity reserves, and energy. There is also the release of the Albanian policeman who shot Serbian children on Christmas Eve near Strpce, and on the other hand, the former mayor of that place has been in custody for almost two years because some Albanian tycoons built illegally in Brezovica," Andjelkovic states.

He adds that he does not know whether and to what extent the West, and above all NATO and KFOR, are aware of the danger that would be posed by the possible lifting of the ban on the presence of the KSF in the north of Kosovo.

"They are constantly saying that the KSF is preparing and that they support and help it, to be in line with NATO standards. On the one hand, they call for de-escalation and calming of tensions in the north, they warn Pristina not to make unilateral moves, and on the other hand, they are working to create the so-called army of Kosovo," he concludes.

The President of the Center for the Study of Globalization, Dejan S. Miletic, tells Kosovo Online that Pristina's only strategy is to provoke escalation and conflict in the north of Kosovo.

"They perceive it as the place that creates the biggest problems for them, that is, the place of resistance of the Serbs. In that context, Maqedonci's statement is not at all surprising, because radicalization is the only strategy they have. And this de-escalation is only a way to create the appearance of doing something, in order to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community, and basically, sooner or later, radicalism and violence always break out as a method of conducting their politics," Miletic points out.

According to him, the possibility of the KSF going north without prior permission from KFOR is absolutely unacceptable, not only in the current otherwise fragile situation on the ground but also in the future.

"This is not only impossible according to numerous agreements, but it would be something that would show that the Serbs can only defend their rights, freedom, and lives with armed methods. The presence of the armed forces of Pristina and all their methods of action, especially in recent months, when there was serious escalation, wounding of the Serbs, and brutal arrests without any evidence and without the desire to respect anyone's human rights, in itself already indicates that someone is really irresponsible towards security, not only towards the security of the Serbs and Kosovo, but the entire region. All of this can significantly ignite the entire region and cause the fire to be out of control," Miletic says.

He adds that the Serbs in Kosovo have been holding back for a long time, suffering various brutalities and that further escalation is unacceptable and extremely dangerous.