Vucevic: Serbian Armed Forces placed on full alert

BELGRADE - Serbian Defence Minister Milos Vucevic said late on Monday President and Commander-In-Chief Aleksandar Vucic had ordered that the Serbian Armed Forces be placed on full alert to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia and all Serbian citizens and prevent a pogrom and terror against Serbs.

In a statement to Tanjug, Vucevic said there was no reason for panic but that there was reason for concern.

"As commander-in-chief, the president of Serbia ordered this evening that the Serbian Armed Forces be placed on full alert from tonight," Vucevic said, adding that Vucic's decision was due to the latest developments in Kosovo-Metohija and that the Pristina authorities were preparing to attack Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija and remove their barricades by force.

The reasons also include the failure to resolve problems that have led to democratic protests by Serbs and the silence on the part of the international community, as well as its neutral statements that are not conducive to a political solution, Vucevic said.

The decision was made in view of the fact that "Serbia's calls for resolving the problems in the format of dialogue and for a return to political dialogue, rather than conflicts, have resulted in no response, with neutral and irritating calls being made for restraint on both sides and with consequences, rather than causes, being dealt with, and in view of intelligence information Serbia has," he said.

Serbia is the only party interested in dialogue and political agreements and in holding "even a thousand meetings until an agreement and a solution are found," he said.

On the other side, Pristina is constantly making hazardous and unilateral moves, raising tensions and constantly leading to further escalation with the clear aim of ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, he said.