Petkovic: Pristina will not be able to trample on US and EU guarantees easily

The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said that the talks with Kosovo Serbs were complex and strenuous but that Serbia stood by its people and supported the decisions of Kosovo Serbs.

"It was not easy, especially since Albin Kurti came to power. Yesterday you could also hear the shocking stories of ordinary people. These are not criminals, but they fought to save their lives in Kosovo. Vucic was the first president who stood by his people. The Serbs set up the barricades themselves, we found out about it after three hours, but we never said that the Serbs were alone – we stood behind them," Petkovic said.

He emphasized that Serbia managed to fight and bring good news.

"No matter how difficult it is for us, we received good news yesterday. We managed to fight for good things," Petkovic stated.

He said that there had been a vast list of attacks and incidents against Serbs since Kurti came to power.

Petkovic stated that the Pantic family was very lucky that Dejan Pantic returned home.

"Kurti did not like the news about Pantic. Why is he treating the judiciary that way, and why is he interfering in the judiciary? What other decision can they make for Pantic when the measure of house arrest for him is also high because the man has not done anything," Petkovic said.

He reminded that the young man arrested at Gazimestan, Nikola Nedeljkovic, was released from prison yesterday.

"Nikola Nedeljkovic was released from prison yesterday. We heard from him, and his bravery is incredible – yesterday, he put on the shirt again for which he was arrested at Gazimestan," Petkovic said.

Pristina is waging a hybrid war, as he added, and wants to show that Serbs are criminals who enter into conflict with KFOR and EULEX.

As he stated, the US and the EU guaranteed that there would be no arrests of Kosovo Serbs.

"The US and EU guarantees refer to the fact that there are no lists for the arrest of Serbs from Kosovo for participating in peaceful protests or barricades. This part is very important, and Vucic fought hard for everything on that paper to be clearly defined. The Serbs openly said that they do not trust the guarantees of the US and the EU, but we, on the other hand, have given guarantees that we will stand by our people. We cannot trust Kurti, it is better to have a piece of paper like this that we can hold on to. The guarantees also refer that Kosovo Security Force cannot go to the north of Kosovo without the approval of the KFOR commander and the political representatives of the Serbs from Kosovo," Petkovic said.

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija reiterated that the barricades would be removed within the next 48 hours.

"The barricades are being removed. We are moving in the direction of de-escalation. The Serbs from Kosovo did not agree with it at first, but an agreement was reached. We will stand by our people, we have preserved the peace, and there is no greater guarantee than that," Petkovic pointed out.

According to him, Pristina will not be able to trample on the US and EU guarantees easily.

"These agreements and guarantees are included in the corpus of all those agreements that we refer to. We have achieved something that is an integral part of our struggle on the international level. We have received guarantees that Pristina would not be able to trample on so easily, without the US and the EU reacting, because this is their guarantee and their word," Petkovic emphasized.