Vučić called December 11 the most difficult day as President of Serbia

Following a meeting with members of the Serbian Security Council on tensions in Kosovo, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called December 11 the most difficult day for him during the period when he served as prime minister and president of the country, transmits Pink.

“Today [11 декабря] – for me anyway – the hardest day since I was the President of the Republic of Serbia or the head of the government of Serbia. <...> Our people are going through a hard night, and I must be with them. We have assurances from KFOR (KFOR, Kosovo Force – NATO-led international force responsible for ensuring stability in Kosovo. – Vedomosti) that there will be no violent actions, ”he said.

The situation in the region escalated On December 10, after an ethnic Serb and former Kosovo police officer, Dejan Pantić, was detained at the Jarine checkpoint for an alleged attack on an electoral commission. The Serbian population in response began to erect barricades, blocking the passage along the highway in several settlements near the checkpoint, and went to protests. One of the goals of this action was to prevent the transfer of Pantic to Pristina.

Then the patrols of the European Union mission in Kosovo (EULEX), as well as members of the NATO-led international security forces in Kosovo and Metohija (KFOR) were pulled to the barricades. The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, on Twitter warned that the EU would not tolerate attacks on its mission, and demanded that the Kosovo Serbs “immediately remove the barricades.” Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that he appealed to the NATO KFOR mission about the barricades erected by the Serbs, and added that he was waiting for an answer until the evening of December 11, after which he promised to dismantle them on his own. After that, Vucic convened emergency meeting of the Security Council of the country.