Vucic: KFOR Will Protect Serbs Until Thaci Verdict
Serbia's president said from Pester he is confident, based on his exchange with Mark Rutte, that KFOR will protect Serbs in Kosovo ahead of Tuesday's Hague verdict against Thaci and three others.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on September 13 that he is confident KFOR will preserve the safety and security of the population in Kosovo and Metohija. He made the comment at the Pester training ground near the village of Budjevo in the Sjenica municipality, answering reporters’ questions after a joint tactical live fire exercise called “Pobednik 2026” wrapped up, just three days before the Hague was set to deliver a first instance verdict against former leaders of the so called KLA on Tuesday, September 16.
The president said his confidence rests on his correspondence with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
“I am certain, from the exchange of letters with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, that KFOR will preserve the safety and security of the population in Kosovo and Metohija. Simply, I don’t think it suits either the Europeans or the Americans, or that they want to see any kind of violence,” Vucic said.
Vucic’s remarks came a day after a march in Pristina on September 12, at which, according to the KoSSev portal, participants voiced support for Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi, the same four defendants whose verdict is due on Tuesday. The president said Belgrade was not surprised by that atmosphere.
“What we saw yesterday, including those threats, we’ve already grown used to and we expected it,” the president said, adding that he hopes the guarantees he received in talks about the survival of the Serbian people will be honored.
“I hope that, in line with what I have heard countless times and received in conversation as guarantees for the survival of our people, that this will be honored,” Vucic said.
What is known about Tuesday’s verdict
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in the Hague will deliver a first instance verdict against Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi on Tuesday, September 16. Prosecutors have requested a sentence of forty five years in prison for each of the four, based on individual criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Vucic has treated the verdict itself with distrust, making no secret of his skepticism about the possible outcome.
“And what are we supposed to believe if on Tuesday we get a verdict saying no one is guilty for the deaths of the dozens of civilians named in the indictment?” the president asked.
He said, however, that regardless of the outcome, Serbia must preserve peace and stability in Kosovo and Metohija.
“We must preserve peace and stability, but at least it will be clear to us what they’ve been doing to us politically,” Vucic added.
A softer tone after the dispute over the Ibar bridge
The president’s conciliatory message toward KFOR today comes less than a month after he sharply criticized the mission’s command in mid August, at the height of the dispute over the Ibar bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica.
“The KFOR commander is playing dumb, everyone is playing dumb,” Vucic said at the time, according to KoSSev.
Since August, KFOR has been gradually withdrawing its permanent presence from the main Ibar bridge and handing responsibility over to Kosovo police, which was the trigger for the president’s clash with the mission’s leadership at the time. Now, ahead of the Hague verdict, Vucic has switched to the opposite tone, publicly voicing confidence in NATO’s guarantees.
The wording of the president’s message varies from outlet to outlet. Radio Kosovska Mitrovica and KoSSev report that KFOR will “preserve the safety and security of the population in Kosovo and Metohija,” while the SNM agency states it will “preserve safety.” B92 highlighted in its headline that the statement specifically concerned the safety of Serbs, not the population of Kosovo as a whole.
The Srpske Vesti portal had earlier reported on the march in Pristina itself, at which, according to reports at the time, several thousand people gathered in support of Thaci and Veseli, a day before the Serbian president spoke about that atmosphere from Pester.
Whether Tuesday’s verdict will confirm Vucic’s belief that KFOR will protect the Serb population in Kosovo and Metohija, or whether it will, as the president himself hinted, open a new dispute with Western allies, will become clear in just a few days.
