Djuric explains what will happen if Serbs aren't released

"There will be no dialogue for a long time" unless the five men arrested in the Gnjilane municipality are released by this evening, says Marko Djuric.

The director of the Serbian Government's Office for Kosovo and Metohija spoke on Tuesday, to say this was also the message of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and that representatives of the European Union have already been informed about it - "but there is still no reply."

Addressing an extraordinary press conference in Belgrade, Djuric said that the Kosovo police arrested the head of the Kosovo Pomoravlje District Radovan Stojkovic, head of the National Employment Service Office in Gjilane Jovan Denic, and Nenad Stojanovic, a member of the Serbian Army who lives in Kosovo and Metohija but works in Vranje, in central Serbia.

In addition, the brothers Aleksandar and Predrag Djordjevic - one of whom is an active, and the other a retired member of the Interior Ministry (MUP), have also been arrested.

"The attack was carried out in a brutal manner, following the Albanian extremists' tried-and-true scenario, completely contrary to everything that has been agreed at the last meeting between Vucic and (EU's) Federica Mogherini, when it was clearly and unequivocally agreed that such things would not be taking place, and when the Albanians assumed the obligation to treat our people with respect, which was guaranteed by the presence of Mogherini," said Djuric.

As he said, the five Serbs have been arrested for committing "a verbal transgression" - and this took place at a time when the region's prime ministers are meeting in London to discuss peace. "Their only sin is that they verbally opposed the formation of the Kosovo army," Djuric said of the detained Serbs.