Ambassador Djuric: We Want a Return to Pre-February 2022 North Kosovo

Marko Djuric (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Serbia’s Ambassador to the U.S. Marko Djuric said on Dec. 30 that Serbia wants to see the situation in northern Kosovo return to what it was pre-February 2022 and added that the recently concluded protest of Kosovo Serbs demonstrated their unity and resilience.

“We want a return to the pre-February 2022 state of affairs, because that is when [Kosovo Prime Minister Albin] Kurti set up illegal military bases in [northern] Kosovo,” Djuric told Pink TV and added that from then on “it has been clear who ignited the escalation” of tensions.

According to him, Serbia is also requesting the unqualified formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities – which Kosovo authorities have been refusing to do for the past decade, despite its stipulation by the Brussels Agreement.

The ambassador further stated that the EU is accountable in seeing the Brussels Agreement through and should be more assertive with Pristina in ensuring the treaty is fulfilled.

Commenting on the Kosovo Serb blockade which concluded yesterday, Djuric said that what had been crucial for the protesters is that the Serbian state stood with them.

The barricades erected throughout northern Kosovo by local Serbs protesting the arrest of former Kosovo police officer Dejan Pantic were cleared on Dec. 29, after Pantic was transferred from jail to house arrest and following the release of twenty-year old Belgrade college student Nikola Nedeljkovic, arrested in June at the Gazimestan Monument, near Pristina.

The dissolution of the protest was also followed by a directive to the Serbian police and military to stand down from high alert, which had commenced on Dec. 26 on order of President Vucic, due to the crisis in northern Kosovo.