Serbian president orders army to be "on stand-by" amidst tension with Kosovo

Serbia's Defence Minister, Milos Vucevic, said President Aleksandar Vučić has ordered the army to remain "on stand-by" due to possible tensions with Kosovo.

The minister gave this statement on a local television channel, TRT Haber reported, when talking about the problems between his country and Kosovo.

"The army is on alert because of the situation in Kosovo," he said.

Serbia is a serious country and therefore no one should play "war games", Vucevic said, stressing that his country is in favor of dialogue.

President Vučić, who is also the commander-in-chief, said the army is "ready to carry out every order to protect Serbs in Kosovo and Serbia".

Noting that his country's support for peace and stability should not be considered "weakness and cowardice", the Serbian Minister noted that the country's army is "stronger than before".

TRT Haber recalls, that the Kosovo government announced in July that in line with the principle of reciprocity to Serbia, decisions on "issuing provisional declaration forms to those who enter or exit Kosovo with Serbian identity cards" and "converting license plates issued by Serbian authorities to Serbs in Kosovo into 'RKS' (Republic of Kosovo) license plates" will come into force.

Reacting to this, Serbs in Kosovo closed border crossings in the country's north, leading to tensions rising in the region. The Kosovo government later decided to postpone the controversial implementation until September 1, provided that all barricades on roads leading to the border crossings with Serbia were removed.

The Kosovo side recently announced that the process of re-registration vehicle license plates, which they described as "illegal", has been postponed to April 2023 and that the owners of these vehicles will first receive a warning and then be fined before the plate will be replaced.