The mayors of Serb municipalities in north Kosovo met with KFOR commander General Franco Federici to demand more troops at crossings with Serbia, while the US and Canadian military attachés visited the two crossings.
A press release by the Belgrade-backed Serb List party said that the mayors want KFOR to prevent the kind of incidents that they blamed on the Kosovo police SWAT unit ROSU over the past few days. The situation in the north of Kosovo, especially at border crossings has been tense over the past week after the authorities in Pristina decided to forbid entry to vehicles with Serbian license plates following the expiration of part of the Brussels Agreement which allowed Serbia to ban entry to vehicles with Republic of Kosovo (RKS) license plates.
Later on Monday, the US and Canadian military attachés from their embassies in Belgarde visited the two crossings.
The U.S. and Canadian Defense Attache Offices visited the Jarinje and Brnjacka crossings today to gain a better understanding of the situation. They were glad to note KFOR was on site as a stabilizing factor. pic.twitter.com/3A01FUfXJx
— Američka ambasada (@USEmbassySerbia) September 27, 2021
An N1 reporter said that the Serbian military deployed four armored vehicles with some troops on the Raska-Kosovska Mitrovica road about two kilometers from the Jarinje crossing, adding that there has been no movement by those forces since their deployment early in the morning.
“KFOR needs to reinforce its presence especially at the Brnjak crossing following a series of incidents caused by ROSU personnel over the past few days to prevent incidents and keep the peace,” the press release said and called the population to remain calm and not allow provocation.
It quoted the general as saying that KFOR would not interfere in political issues or remove the roadblocks by force.
KFOR told the KoSSev news portal that it had increased the number of its patrols across Kosovo, including in the north.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said earlier that he was not told during his meeting with General Federici that KFOR has no intention of intervening in the north of Kosovo.
