Vucevic Dismisses Allegations about Serbian Military Deployment after Conflict in Banjska

Milos Vucevic, Bujanovac, June 22 2023 (BETAPHOTO/Ministry of Defense)

Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic dismissed on Oct. 2 allegations by Pristina and some international media about the movements of the Army of Serbia in the territory of Serbia, in the wake of a conflict between a group of Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija and the Kosovo Police in the village of Banjska, killing a police officer and three Serbs.

“There is a continuous campaign against the Army of Serbia, its size and activities, or rather, the movement and deployment of its troops in the territory of Serbia, which we find completely unacceptable and irresponsible, dismissing the allegations as inaccurate, that is, absolutely untrue,” Vucevic said to reporters in the House of the Army of Serbia in Belgrade.

The minister reiterated that the Army of Serbia, if ordered by the supreme commander, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, that its units should enter the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, as part of Serbia, would perform the task “efficiently, professionally and successfully,” but that “even in that case, they would previously report the move to the KFOR command.”

Vucevic said that Serbia would do everything in its power to avoid that scenario, adding that a stronger presence of KFOR peacekeepers, especially in the areas inhabited by Serbs, would improve their safety.

The minister also dismissed the allegations that Serbia, the Ministry of Defense and the Army of Serbia had trained and armed the Serbs in Kosovo, adding that the Kosovo Police used weapons produced by the Serbian arms companies, which Belgrade did not sell to them.

Vucevic also presented photographs showing, as he said, Kosovo police officers and special police carrying M70 rifles, M72 automatic weapons and other arms made in Serbia, underlining that Serbia did not sell those weapons to them.

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