Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says he and much of Eastern Europe are bracing for trouble in northern Kosovo after NATO forces began stepping back from guarding the Ibar Bridge, a crossing that separates the Albanian Muslim south of Mitrovica from the Serbian Christian north.
“I am afraid, and everyone is afraid,” Vucic told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. “That is why we will beg and ask. It won’t be hard for me to phone everyone, even if I have to call Washington, to help with this issue… Enough with the persecution of the Serbian and Christian population in Kosovo and Metohija, and I believe that the people in Washington will understand that.”
The bridge has long been closed to vehicles and watched over by NATO’s Kosovo Force, or KFOR. It remains open to pedestrians. But in August, KFOR announced it would gradually hand day-to-day security at the bridge to local Kosovo Police, while still keeping a visible presence elsewhere in the north. Vucic worries that reopening the crossing to cars could rapidly increase contact between the two communities and put Serbian Christians at risk.
Vucic said he has been raising the alarm with officials across the West, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Union leaders and U.S. officials, urging them to pause and reverse the handover so KFOR retains control of the bridge.
Political Stakes in Belgrade and The Hague
The warning comes as Serbia heads toward snap elections in mid-to-late October, with several major questions about Kosovo’s future still unresolved. The region is also awaiting a ruling expected in mid-September from The Hague in the crimes-against-humanity case against former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci. Some observers believe Thaci was unfairly targeted by prosecutor Jack Smith — the same figure who later pursued President Donald Trump — because Thaci had cooperated with Trump’s first administration on efforts to resolve tensions between Serbia and Kosovo.
Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who publicly backed Joe Biden over Trump in the 2020 U.S. election, has drawn criticism from both the Biden and Trump administrations as well as NATO.
Ric Grenell, who served as acting Director of National Intelligence under Trump and previously oversaw Serbia-Kosovo negotiations, told Breitbart News he does not trust Kurti.
“Albin Kurti has been condemned by NATO, the Europeans and both the Biden and Trump Administrations because he unilaterally creates chaos and instability,” Grenell said. “America has never seen Kosovo with such a fascist leader. I’ve regularly been to the northern part of Kosovo where many Serbs make their homes and I’m concerned, once again, by the current situation unfolding. People who believe differently should be able to live next to each in peace, but they also deserve politicians who don’t work to destabilize delicate situations.”
It remains unclear how Washington or Brussels will respond. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker and his mission staff did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
