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Serbian soldiers (photo from September 2021): "Highest combat readiness"
Photo: IRFAN LICINA / AFP
Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have increased in recent weeks.
This is now leading to the Serbian government putting its army on high alert.
Serbian Defense Minister Miloš Vučević announced on Monday evening that President Aleksandar Vučić had ordered "highest combat readiness".
Army chief Milan Mojsilovic had previously stated that he had been sent to the Kosovo border because of Vučić's "complicated situation".
Kosovo, with its majority Albanian population, declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but is still considered a breakaway territory by Belgrade.
Despite mediation efforts by the EU, the neighboring countries have been at odds for years.
Belgrade is encouraging the Serb minority in northern Kosovo to try to defy Pristina's authority.
Hundreds of Kosovo Serbs have been blocking traffic in northern Kosovo for weeks.
Shots fired at police officers in the night and an attack on the EU mission Eulex with a stun grenade had caused international concern.
Alleged firefight
Shortly before the army chief left for the border area, several Serbian media outlets shared a video on online networks in which gunshots could be heard.
According to them, these were "fights" that are said to have taken place early Sunday evening.
The Kosovan armed forces allegedly tried to dismantle a barricade previously erected by Serbs.
This was immediately denied by the Kosovar police.
She said on her Facebook page that none of her employees were involved in any firefight.
Instead, according to Kosovan media, a patrol from the Kosovo Peacekeeping Force (KFOR) was in the firing zone.
The NATO-led mission increased its presence in the region just a few days ago.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić recently warned of an escalation of the situation.
Both countries are "really on the brink of armed conflict," she said.
Brnabić blamed the government in Pristina for the tensions.
The EU has been trying for years to help clarify the relationship between the two neighbors.
Kosovo, which is now almost exclusively inhabited by Albanians, split from Serbia in 1999 with the help of NATO and declared its independence in 2008.
More than a hundred countries, including Germany, recognize independence.
Others, including Serbia, Russia and China, but also five EU countries, do not.
ptz/AFP/AP
