Starovic: Raising combat readiness is not a threat to anyone, it's just a warning

State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense Nemanja Starovic said today that raising the combat readiness of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not pose a threat to anyone, but that it was only a warning, Beta reports.

"Raising the level of combat readiness does not pose a threat to anyone, it is only a warning that, although we are absolutely determined for peace, for dialogue and that the official Belgrade and Serbia in the north of Kosovo and Metohija are wondering, we would not have any escalation," Starović said. for RTS.

He added that this was a kind of warning that Serbia would not allow the events of March 17, 2004 to be repeated, and emphasized that he expected KFOR to protect all people in Kosovo, especially minority communities, among who, as he stated, the most vulnerable were Serbs.

Speaking about the exchange of fire that was heard on Sunday in the town of Zupce near Zubin Potok, Starovic pointed out that there was no attack on KFOR members.

"Why would the Serbs attack KFOR, when KFOR is in charge of preventing a repeat of the Pogrom of 2004. Our task is to communicate intensively at the diplomatic level, but also to always appeal to our compatriots in Kosovo and Metohija to remain committed to the principles of non-violence," he said. 

Starovic stated that there are serious threats of violence against Serbs from the north of Kosovo coming from Pristina, and that Serbs are carrying out their peaceful and non-violent protests due to the threat of basic human and democratic rights to which they are exposed.

"We are talking about the illegal detention of former members of the Kosovo Police, Serbs who paid off their debts at the beginning of November, but also about the daily intimidation they are exposed to by the special militarized mono-ethnic forces of the Kosovo Police who are deployed in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, and where they should not be staying", Starovic said.