ZVECAN

BELGRADE - The chief public prosecutor of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade Nenad Stefanovic said on Wednesday that, from the standpoint of the legal order of the Republic of Serbia, an indictment raised by the so-called Kosovo special prosecution office against 45 people for last year's armed clashes in Banjska, near Zvecan, Kosovo-Metohija, had no relevance whatsoever.

Kosovo has recently become the latest country to acquire the Bayraktar TB2, Türkiye's first indigenous armed unmanned aerial vehicle developed by Baykar Technologies.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced the procurement of the drones, emphasizing that the investment in defense spending would "contribute to the safety of the nation."

Kosovo Police announced on Friday that it arrested a Kosovo Serb, N.O., known as Nemac and/or Rus, suspected of participating in violent clashes between Serb protesters and the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, on May 29, in the Serb-majority northern municipality of Zvecan.

Hundreds of local in Serb-majority nothern Kosovo, led by medical workers, marched from North Mitrovica to Zvecan - where workers from the Trepca mine joined them - in protest against recent arrests of people suspected of attacks against Kosovo journalists, Serbian-language Kosovo media outlet Kossev reported.

Northern Kosovo was hit by fresh violence on Tuesday after police arrested Kosovo Serb Milun 'Lune' Milenkovic on suspicion of orchestrating attacks against NATO peacekeepers at the end of May, testing international efforts to de-escalate tensions.

ZVECAN - The night passed calmly in Zvecan, a Serb-majority municipality in the north of Kosovo-Metohija and, in the morning, local Serbs continued a peaceful protest that began at the end of May.

The protesters, who have been gathering in front of a cordon of Kfor troops every day, said they would not end the protest until their demands were met.

Gamble

Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti outside the Government building in Pristina, Kosovo, October 27, 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI

Either way, however, the strategy of integrating the north into the rest of Kosovo is in disarray; the question now is whether Kosovo can hang on to anything more than nominal sovereignty over its rebellious municipalities.

Russia and France have unequivocally pointed to Kosovo as responsible for the tensions and clashes outside town halls in several predominantly Serb towns following Washington's crackdown on Pristina.

ZVECAN - Two Serb men arrested during Monday's clashes in Zvecan and subsequently handed over by Kfor to Pristina's police were transferred to court detention in Kosovska Mitrovica on Wednesday morning, former Zvecan mayor Dragisa Milovic said.

He said Rados Petrovic and Dusan Obrenovic were due to appear before a judge later in the day.