Around 500 Kosovo Serbs have reportedly traveled to Belgrade in support of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić ahead of the next student protest scheduled for Saturday. According to the Institute for Hybrid Warfare Studies "Octopus", these people have been conditioned to go to Belgrade and are the same people who are paid by Serbia in the name of social assistance. They are also paid up to 100 euros on a daily basis for their stay there. Although the Kosovo state cannot prohibit their participation, security agencies are required to keep them under surveillance, writes A2 CNN.
"Those persons should be identified, the security bodies should take this into account, then keep those persons and their activities under observation, to see what might happen and eventually, if their activities are verified to be criminal and the courts in Kosovo verify that Kosovo citizens can commit criminal acts in another country or within the country, then legal action can be taken against them," said Gurakuç Kuçi from the "Octopus" Institute.
The exploitation of Kosovo Serbs is not happening for the first time, it has roots long ago. “It reminds me of the time of Milosevic, where the same people, the same regime, had abused them, or used them for their own purposes to extend their authority and to completely annex the institutions of Kosovo, but also other parts of the former Yugoslavia, and the same thing, the same policy is being used by his former minister [Aleksandar Vučić],” said Avni Islami, a security expert.
In post-war Kosovo, the unrest that occurred mainly in the northern part, according to security experts, was organized by the same people who today come to Vučić's defense against student protests. The sirens that once sounded in the northern part were the signal for everyone to take to the streets for protests and blockades.
"Some of them are loyal to Vučić, who together are incriminated in organized crime, then some of them are mainly dependent on pensions, on salaries that come from Serbia, and another part is manipulated by Vučić," said Avni Islami, a security expert.
"These are people who are constantly paid by Serbia to carry out such mercenary actions, because they are not ordinary citizens who take a stick and go out to attack one of the KFOR members, or something like that. Even if they were to go out to protest, they are not trained to use violence," said Gurakuç Kuçi from the Octopus Institute.
Despite the Serbs' participation in Vučić's defense, security experts suggest that most local Serbs in Kosovo are turning their backs on the Serbian president. On the other hand, Vučić needs the Kosovo Serbs to send an internal message that he cares about Kosovo and that with his fall, Kosovo will fall too, according to their belief. While to the international community, he uses them to prove that he is the factor of peace and the one who keeps the Serbs under control.
"The peace of the region and Kosovo is still in my hands, and if I do not control the Kosovo Serbs, they may revolt and cause new wars in the Balkans. I may also seek other concessions in negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia and put pressure on the negotiators, but also on Western countries to put pressure on Kosovo for territorial changes and other goals," said Gurakuç Kuçi from the Octopus Institute.
Students in Serbia have been protesting since November following the tragedy in Novi Sad. Similar protests, but with significantly fewer participants, were also organized in North Mitrovica. Some young people from northern Kosovo have announced on social media that they will be part of the student protest on March 15 in Belgrade. (A2 Televizion)
A2 CNN Livestream
MUND TE LEXONI GJITHASHTU
