Russia will deploy air defense in Serbia amid tensions with Kosovo

Amid tensions between Serbs and Kosovars in Serbia, military exercises "Slavic Shield 2021" will start in October. The Russian side will take part in the maneuvers - Moscow will send its air defense systems to the region. This was announced by the commander of the air and missile defense forces, deputy commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces of Russia Yuri Grekhov in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

The deployment of Russian air defense systems in Serbia will take place against the background of unrest on the border with the unrecognized republic of Kosovo. For example, on September 23, at the Brnjak checkpoint, Kosovar special forces beat several Serbs who were following firewood. The Kosovo police stopped the car with the Serbs and carried out unlawful actions against the detainees. The victims were taken to hospital.



Earlier, the Kosovars, with the support of snipers, occupied the Brnjak and Yarinje border crossings. At the same time, Pristina ordered not to let cars with Serbian numbers into the territory of the republic, announcing the need to install temporary numbers of the region. This caused a wave of indignation among local residents.

In response to Kosovo's actions, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic appeared on television and on TV Pink announced Belgrade's readiness to take decisive action in the event of an extreme aggravation of the situation. Serbia has not yet brought its troops into the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, because it does not want to violate the Kumanov agreements of 1999. At the same time, Belgrade continues to support its people in Kosovo. On the border noted increased activity of the Serbian military aviation.


Vucic paid particular attention to the visit of Russian Ambassador Alexander Botan-Kharchenko to the Yarinje checkpoint, which shows Russia's support for the territorial integrity of Serbia. At the same time, the president called the reaction of the West strange, which was outraged by the redeployment of Serbian forces on the border with Kosovo, but "did not notice" the dispatch of special forces and armored vehicles of Kosovars to border crossings.