Two new barricades were erected by the Serbs in the northern part of the city of Mitrovica. Heavy trucks loaded with sand and rubble have been placed vertically on arterial roads leading from the southern part of the city to the north, where the Serb population is a majority. The Serbs made the move because of warnings coming from Pristina that a police operation was imminent to remove the roadblocks they erected 18 days ago in northern Kosovo.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, in his statement last Sunday, had described the Serb roadblocks as “warlike”.“These are barricades of people in dark uniforms, people who are bald, with beards, and Wagner barricades. They have guns and set up barricades not to prevent vehicles from passing but to defend themselves and shoot at approaching vehicles. So these are military roadblocks,” Albin Kurti told the Bosnian news website istraga.ba.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo during the meeting he had yesterday with the commander of the international military force in Kosovo (KFOR) General Angelo Michele Ristuccia asked for the removal of the barricades and stated that if KFOR does not do it, the police will take action. Belgrade reacted immediately to these warnings and the President of the Republic, Aleksandar Vucic, put the army and police on high alert. “After the arming of the Albanians and their combat readiness being raised, I will take all measures to protect our people and preserve Serbia,” Aleksandar Vucic explained, late on Monday night, with his post on Instagram. This was followed by a statement by the Minister of Defence Milos Vucevic who said that by order of the President of the Republic he ordered the Serbian army to be “at the highest level of combat readiness, that is, at the level of the use of armed force”.

Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic also mentioned that the preparedness of the police forces has also increased. “By order of the president of the Republic and supreme commander of the armed forces, I ordered the increase in the combat readiness of the police and special forces. The police forces are placed directly under the command of the General Staff of the Armed Forces as provided by the operational plan,” Bratislav Gasic says in his message.