Petkovic: Situation in north of Kosovo-Metohija toughest to date

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Tuesday Belgrade would do everything to preserve peace in Kosovo-Metohija and avert war, but noted that the situation in the north of the province was the toughest to date.

Instead of withdrawing his occupation forces and moving towards de-escalation, Pristina's PM Albin Kurti is deploying more police forces in the north of Kosovo-Metohija, Petkovic said at an extraordinary press conference after Pristina's police arrested Serb Milun Lune Milenkovic in Kosovska Mitrovica earlier in the day.

"How can we head towards de-escalation when Kurti is opposing the international community in this way?" he said.

He added that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had spoken with EU special envoy Miroslav Lajcak on multiple occasions and with many other international representatives earlier in the day to ensure they "reason with Kurti and make him give up on actions aimed at expelling Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija."

"We call on Kfor to react and intervene urgently to remove ROSU special forces from the north of Kosovo-Metohija, as well as occupiers who attack unarmed Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, because there will be no peace for Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija as long as they are in the north," Petkovic said.

Responding to questions from reporters, he said the goal of Kurti's policy was to provoke conflicts and war in the north of Kosovo-Metohija.

"As a responsible party, we will be doing what we have been doing in the past months in order to preserve peace. Preserving peace is important, but no one knows what is going on inside Kurti's head," Petkovic said.

He said the so-called Kosovo Police had been after Milenkovic for months prior to the arrest because he was fighting for Serbian interests.

"He was arrested in the centre (of Kosovska Mitrovica) at mid-day, in a hairdressing parlour that was surrounded by eight vehicles. There was a siege at the time of the arrest, a large number of police forces crossed into the northern part of the town and threw tear gas at people in the streets, holding passers-by at gunpoint," Petkovic said.