Dacic: Serbia is ready to intervene, but will do everything to preserve peace

Serbia is always ready to intervene if there is an armed attack on Serbs in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, and emphasized that Serbia would do everything to preserve peace, RTV reports.

"That has been clear all these weeks," said Dacic for TV Insider, when asked if his statement "that the security situation in Kosovo and Metohija has been analyzed and that according to the assessed danger and the situation on the ground, all units of the Serbian Army located in that region, have been put on alert to react in the event of an attack on Serbs from the north of Kosovo'', means that Serbia would be ready to intervene militarily.

"We will invest everything in peace, in the continuation of the Dialogue, but if there is a physical attack, killing of Serbs, pogrom, and KFOR does not want to intervene and fulfill its mandate under Resolution 1244, Serbia will be forced to do it," said Dacic and added that the essence is that it does not come to that and that Serbia hopes that it will not come to that.

Yesterday's exchange fire near Zubin Potok, as he pointed out, was one segment in a series of events that speak of the escalation of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija.

"It would be difficult to observe all these events in isolation, if we do not see the whole sequence of events and that the entire international community is dealing with extinguishing the fires that appear every week in Kosovo and Metohija instead of plans," Dacic added.

Dacic was also asked to comment on the allegations of some Belgrade media that published a video about an alleged shooting and the attempt to remove the barricade in Zubin Potok, which was why the Kosovo police and KFOR came forward denying that there was any exchange of fire with people on barricades.

When asked if he knew who shot, Dacic said "whoever shot, shouldn't have shot!".

"Why would the Serbs shoot at KFOR in Zubin Potok?" he asked and added that those who guaranteed security must provide complete information about what exactly had happened there.

When asked if the official Belgrade had anything to do with the organization of the barricades, Dacic said that the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija were an independent political factor  and that they were fighting for their rights legitimately.

"If you think that representatives of the authorities in Belgrade participated in organizing the barricades and everything else, listen, I guess it is clear enough that the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija are an independent political factor. They are fighting for their rights, legitimately," Dacic said.

He reminded of the three red lines that Serbia has.

The first, as he said, refers to the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities and the fact that Serbia cannot agree to renegotiate this topic in a new peace plan and negotiation process, "because that would mean wasting nine years".

The second red line is, as he added, the independence of the so-called Kosovo, i.e. the membership of the so-called of Kosovo to the United Nations, and the third is the physical security of the Serbs in Kosovo.

He added that Belgrade was doing everything in the desire and effort to solve all problems through dialogue, de-escalation, and not new tensions.

When asked if the issue of Kosovo was what stands in Serbia's way to Europe, Dacic answered in the affirmative, but also emphasized that it was better to formulate it so that Serbia's relationship to territorial integrity stood in the way of Europe.

Dacic also assessed that there was no progress in the dialogue, and that was because of Albin Kurti.