Brnabic: We preserved peace in Kosovo-Metohija thanks to wise policy

BELGRADE - It is only thanks to President Aleksandar Vucic's wise policy that peace has been preserved and an armed conflict in Kosovo-Metohija averted, says Serbian PM Ana Brnabic.

In an interview to Tanjug, she said she expected further instability in Kosovo-Metohija and that last year had been marked by instability generated by Pristina's PM Albin Kurti through his unilateral moves and terror against the Serbs.

"Last year was a year of instability created by Albin Kurti through his unilateral moves, a year in which his first move was to abolish the Kosovo-Metohija Serbs' right to vote and ban them from taking place in a rule of law referendum in the territory of Kosovo-Metohija, thereby not only violating the Brussels Agreement but practically aiming at abolishing it," the PM said.

She said that, unfortunately, this had not been met with a too strong reaction by the Quint and EU states and that, in consequence, Kurti had done the same again in April by banning the Kosovo-Metohija Serbs from voting in Serbian elections.

"That was the start of a kind of a spiral of violence that led us to the very brink of armed conflict. As PM, I want to thank President Aleksandar Vucic for the fact that conflicts were averted several times in 2022 only through his calm reactions, enormous tolerance and a political wisdom not to react to whatever provocations Albin Kurti makes," Brnabic noted.

She said she was not sure she was able to find an explanation for the lack of engagement by some international partners on preventing such an escalation of violence and provocations.

She also said she could not explain the international partners' lack of engagement on ensuring the implementation of the 2013 Brussels Agreement.