BELGRADE \u2013 December 27 (ONLINE) Serbia has placed its security forces on the border with Kosovo in a \u201cfull state of combat readiness\u201d, senior officials have said, amid increasingly strained relations with its neighbour and despite calls by the European Union and NATO for tensions to ease between the once wartime foes.<\/p>\n
\u201cSerbia\u2019s president \u2026 ordered the Serbian army to be on the highest level of combat readiness that is to the level of the use of armed force\u201d Serbia\u2019s Defence Minister Milos Vucevic said in a statement late on Monday.<\/p>\n
He added that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also ordered the special armed forces to be beefed up from the existing 1,500 to 5,000, Vucevic said.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said he \u201cordered the full combat readiness\u201d of police and other security units and that they be placed under the command of the army chief of staff according to \u201ctheir operational plan\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said in a statement that he acted on the orders of President Vucic so that \u201call measures be taken to protect the Serbian people in Kosovo\u201d.<\/p>\n
The orders from Vucic come after Serbian army chief General Milan Mojsilovic was dispatched to the border with Kosovo on Sunday, though it was not immediately clear what the new orders mean on the border where Serbian troops have been on alert for some time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BELGRADE \u2013 December 27 (ONLINE) Serbia has placed its security forces on the border with Kosovo in a \u201cfull state of combat readiness\u201d, senior officials have said, amid increasingly strained relations with its neighbour and despite calls by the European Union and NATO for tensions […]<\/p>\n
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