Serbian President Vucic Vows to Protect Kosovo Serbs if NATO Won't 'Do Their Job'

The president of Serbia urged NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) to "do their job" in Kosovo on Sunday, warning that if they do not, Serbia will take action to defend its minority there.

Following the breakdown of political negotiations between the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo earlier this week, which were mediated by the European Union in Brussels, President Aleksandar Vucic delivered an aggravated televised address to his country.

“We have nowhere to go, we are cornered,” Vucic said. “We will save our people from persecution and pogroms, if NATO does not want to do it.”

Additionally, he asserted it is necessary to prevent Kosovo Albanian "gangs" from entering northern Kosovo, where the majority of the Kosovo Serbs reside.

Vucic pointed out that the arduous struggle for the survival of the people and the state in Kosovo and Metohija continues to this day.

"After all the threats of the Albanian leadership, fear reigned. Accordingly, it was our duty to tell people today, even though we know how difficult it is today, in conditions that are no longer hypothetical, we have nowhere to go, we are cornered and our key message was: 'No matter what, no matter what, the refugee columns will not happen," he said, per a translation.

The president noted that during the last round of talks, the Serbian delegation's proposal was the introduction of status-neutral boards.

Kosovars, he added "jumped as if scalded, they refused everything, they only care about destroying the lives of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and that the only purpose of bullying our people in Kosovo and Metohija is their final expulsion."

According to Vucic, the Serbian government has several tasks: ensuring peace is preserved, avoiding the condemnation of the West, whether Belgrade does not publicly demonstrate readiness for compromise or conduct a military operation, and to "ensure the survival of our people in Kosovo and Metohija."

In the next 10 days, Serbia will "work hard" to find a compromise, according to Vucic. Moreover, he stated the Kosovo government wanted "the final removal of the Serbian people from Kosovo," which has been refuted by Kosovo authorities.

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The measures proposed by the breakaway territory's authorities infuriated Kosovo's minority Serb population, which resulted in blocked roads, activated air raid sirens, and reportedly discharged guns. Nobody was hurt as a result of the turmoil.

Kurti delayed the measure's adoption until September 1 under apparent Western pressure, but if a solution is not struck by then, more difficulty is anticipated.

Serbia has refused to recognize Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence, along with numerous countries, such as Russia and China. In 1999, a NATO-led intervention put an end to the conflict in Kosovo between Serbian forces and the separatists. Since normalizing their relations is one of the key prerequisites for Kosovo and Serbia's ultimate membership in the 27-nation union, the EU has presided over years of fruitless negotiations.

Following the 1998–1999 war, about 4,000 NATO–led troops are now stationed in Kosovo, and any armed action there would result in a significant escalation of a smoldering crisis in Europe.

NATO peacekeeping forces in Kosovo have been stationed along major routes in the country's north after the negotiations mediated by the EU broke down, declaring their readiness to defend everyone's right to travel freely.

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