“The Telegraph” writes for Kosovo Police, show how they are protecting the border with Serbia

Before Kosovo police start patrolling on the border with Serbia, they load the machine with weapons: AK-47s are attached to the back of the car's seats, guns are thrown into the front of the seats, on their feet, and the drones and bulletproof vests are placed in the trunk of Land Rover.

This is now standard protocol on one of the most unstable borders on the European continent, reports prestigious British media “The Telegraph”.

When people ask Venton Elshan, deputy police commander in northern Kosovo what the situation is like, he simply tells them of the preparations he makes for patrols. “See the guns? The situation is not good”.

Since Kosovo gained independence from Yugoslavia in a war that ended in 1999, in the northern part of the country, which is the border region, a small ethnic Serb community has remained. Tensions with the ethnic Albanian majority have risen recently. Allnexander Vuciq, the president of Serbia, has hinted of an invasion of nationalists urging him to act to protect the “Serbians forced to live under Kosovo rule.

Fear of a new war increased in 2023 when an armed Serb group attacked across the border in the northern village of Banjsca and were barricaded in his monastery. Three out of 30 suspected militants were killed in a shootout. One of Elshan's men lost his life in the exchange of fire.

Since that day, the officer and his team have conducted daily patrols in the Serb-dominated border region, seeking illegal routes to Serbia of the type used by armed men in their attack.

“We know these roads better than anyone, said Commander Elshani for the “The Telegraph” as the patrol drove its way through the mountains.

“Serbs can't go a way we won't find”

In the latest count, police identified 65 illegal routes, all blocked.

Another 10 roads are kept under constant surveillance, mainly through fear.

Continued presence in the Serb majority region sends a message to Belgrade that Kosovo is protecting its borders, Commander Elshani said.

“Banjska changed the game, put the game on another level due to death”, he said.

When blood is spilled, then it's problem”

Analysts warn that Kremlin propaganda is sparking unrest in the north in a country where 93 per cent are Albanians and 4 per cent Serbs. Most Serbs in Kosovo still consider Belgrade, which has never recognised Kosovo's independence as their government.

After the siege, authorities discovered a large weapons depot that attackers had hidden in unused buildings around northern villages. Just weeks ago they discovered five other rocket launchers, a sign of the planned attack rate.

In an interview for “The Telegraph”, Albin Kurti, Kosovo's prime minister, warned that Serbia's president, Allexander Vuciq, was planning invasion. He said Serbia had built operational bases ahead of the border at a “pathcoi” to protect Belgrade and attack Kosovo”.

War - focus in Ukraine

Based on President Vucic's own words, Kurti believes the Serbian president is seeking his time for an opportunity to invasion.

President Vuciq's friendship with Vdalmir Putin is well known, and Kurti believes it is in the Russian leader's interest for Serbia to invasion Kosovo, as it would draw attention from his war in Ukraine.

Returning from the mountain to the Mitrovica Bridge, which crosses the Iber River, Serbia's red, white and blue flag waves everywhere. At one time this bridge was a hot <x0). Things look peaceful as pedestrians walk freely between the two sides.

But there's a current under pressure. Some ethnic Serb residents from the north see anyone going south as a traitor who betrays wounds unscathed by the bloodshed of the 1990s.

Cars are still not allowed to cross the bridge, obstructed by a blockade, and from the presence of 24/7 of both Land Rovers, one parked with view south and the other from the north.

Police said these precautions were essential to maintaining stability in the area.

The rumors circulate that Putin has recruited Serbs to fight in his army against Ukraine, and while the Telegraph<1> travelled north, solidarity with Russia was acceptable.

The letter “Z” was X-rayed at the edges of local shops, cafes and houses.

Prime Minister Kurti said: “This is the pool from which they [Russia] will recruit Wagner's future paramilitaries for Ukraine and the Balkans”.

On a road sign, someone had written the words “Fí You Nato”, a warning about the peacekeeping presence of the KFOR bloc, which has been stationed in Kosovo since 1999.

Like the police, they conduct patrols, keeping an eye on what they call an administrative border line, a stretch of 237 miles of land dividing Kosovo and Serbia.

Lieutenant Caldwell of Georgia's National Guard, which makes up America's contribution to KFOR, said their task was to discover anyone intent on pursuing hostile activities.

He stressed the importance of the “cut-off of illegal roads to prevent the passage of smugglers to Kosovo. He said that many more were being built whenever possible. For Elshan, his men are in assault training.

“It is not a surprise that Vuciqi wants to invasion”, he said. “They can shoot at us, but they can't scare us”