Djuric: Serbia will not allow forced redrawing of realities in Kosovo-Metohija

BELGRADE - The Government of the Republic of Serbia strongly condemns the latest unilateral and politically motivated act by Albin Kurti’s regime, marked by Tuesday’s ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of two new bridges in Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbian FM Marko Djuric said on Wednesday, noting that Serbia would not allow a forced redrawing of realities in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija.

In a post on X, Djuric wrote that the ceremony was "a blatant provocation, carried out in direct violation of the Brussels Agreement, and in complete disregard of the will and security of the local Serb population."

"Instead of fostering trust and dialogue, Kurti has once again chosen confrontation - weaponising infrastructure to deepen division, inflame ethnic tensions, and score points ahead of local elections. It is no coincidence that this announcement comes at a politically convenient moment, while the north of Kosovo-Metohija remains under administrative pressure and a de facto state of occupation.

Let us be absolutely clear: the area in question has seen over two decades of violence, and the very bridge these new structures seek to overshadow remains a symbol of unresolved conflict, guarded day and night by KFOR due to hundreds of ethnically motivated attacks on the Serb population. To proceed with new construction under such conditions, without dialogue or consent, is not urban development - it is political coercion.

This is yet another flagrant breach of commitments undertaken in Brussels, and a further step away from peace and normalisation. It exposes the true agenda of Kurti’s administration: to marginalise and ultimately remove the Serb presence from the north of Kosovo-Metohija through pressure, intimidation, and demographic engineering disguised as 'infrastructure,'" Djuric noted.

"We call on the European Union, KFOR and all relevant international actors to immediately intervene and halt this dangerous course of action. Failure to respond to such violations not only discredits the dialogue process but also emboldens radicalism on the ground.

Serbia will not allow the forced redrawing of the realities in Kosovo-Metohija. We remain committed to dialogue - but not to accepting the normalisation of ethnic discrimination and institutional violence under the guise of development," he concluded.

The two bridges are to be constructed in the vicinity of the main bridge across the Ibar River, which is closed to traffic and constantly secured by KFOR.