Vucic: Serbia will increase the number of special forces of the army to 5,000 people

The number of special forces of the Serbian army will be increased to 5,000 people, President Aleksandar Vucic said during the annual conference. About it writes Portal “Evening News”.

He also said that Serbia received a supply of weapons, but did not specify from which country. “We received the first shipments of weapons from a Western country, launchers and missiles that we paid for,” he said.

According to Vučić, it was “barely” possible to maintain peace and stability in relations with Kosovo, and added that “difficult trials” lie ahead. “We did not provoke anyone, unless someone considers it a provocation that we respect our Constitution and protect citizens. We have not allowed a single incident, not a single wrong step. We cannot resist big powers, we are small, Germany, America and Europe are big,” the Serbian President said. He stressed that 106 countries do not recognize Kosovo, nine more have withdrawn their recognition. Among them are Somalia, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Eswatini, Libya, Guinea, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia and the Maldives.

Vučić noted that Serbia is not running “from all the agreements we have signed.”

Aggravation of the situation in the north of Kosovo occurred on December 10, when the Pristina authorities detained an ethnic Serb, a former policeman Dejan Pantic. He was suspected of attacking the election commission. In response to the actions of Pristina, the Serbian population began to erect barricades, blocking the passage along the highway in several settlements near the Yarine checkpoint, and went out to protest. Due to the aggravation of the situation in the region, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic convened an emergency meeting of the country’s Security Council in response to Kurti’s threats to dismantle the barricades on his own.

On December 26, Vucic ordered the Serbian armed forces to be brought to the highest degree of combat readiness, but already on December 29 he canceled this decision, and on the same day the barricades began to be dismantled. 30 December Serbian President declaredthat the escalation of the conflict was avoided.