Vucevic: Serbian Army is competent, we don’t want conflict escalation, but we will defend our people

Minister of Defense Milos Vucevic stated that the Serbian Armed Forces are capable and ready to respond to every task and carry out every order of the Commander-in-Chief and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity, protecting all its citizens and taking care of the security of the Serbs in Kosovo, TV Pink reports.

"Of course, nobody wants conflicts or wars, but Serbia is a serious country and takes all steps to be able to respond to every challenge and potential problem," said Vucevic in an interview for Republika.rs.
Regarding the possibility of Albin Kurti sending Special Forces with long firearm with rifled barrels to the north of Kosovo, Vucevic stated that it has been proven several times so far that you could never be straight with Kurti.

"You see that even the international community, above all the Quinte countries, have no influence on him. We do not want an escalation of the conflict, but we will defend our people," Vucevic said.

When asked if Monday is D-day, given that Kurti has threatened with fines because of the license plates, Vucevic stated that Serbia would continue to do everything to help its people in Kosovo.

"We will continue to do everything to help our people because this Serbia will never leave its people and will not allow new criminal actions like 'Bljesak', 'Storm' or the pogrom of 2004. We have always shown that we are in favor of continuing dialogue and solving all open issues at the table and we will continue to insist on calming tension and a rational approach to solving problems," Vucevic says.

According to him, the security situation is challenging and the tension was caused solely by the unilateral decisions of Pristina, the non-recognition of Serbian license plates, the non-formation of the CSM, the attempts to create the so-called Kosovo Army, the creation of camps for special units in the municipalities with a majority Serbian population, which, according to Resolution 1244, must not exis.

"We are carefully monitoring the situation because we want to maintain peace and stability, even though we understand how our people living in Kosovo and Metohija feel and how difficult it is for them," Vucevic said.