The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, claims that the Kosovo Police do not have the right to extend their activities to northern Kosovo without, as he says, the permission of the mayors of Serb-majority municipalities in that area.
Vučić has been making this claim for several days now. Most recently, he made it after a meeting with the United States (US) Ambassador to Belgrade, Christopher Hill. But he also made the same claim during a press conference after a meeting with some of the Serbian political representatives of Kosovo, on Sunday (August 21), held in Belgrade (here).
In addition to him, the same claim was made by the head of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic.
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Xhelal Sveçla, reacted to these allegations by denying them.
In addition, hibrid.info has consulted official documents relevant to this issue, and has found that the claims of the Serbian leader and another senior official are incorrect.
Vučić's claim has been distributed on the official website of the Presidency of Serbia and in the media, but hibrid.info will only address the content of the statement by the Serbian president and the head of the office for Kosovo in the Serbian government.
Excerpts from Vučić's claims:
Stressing the tensions that exist in Kosovo and Kosovo, President Vučić said that it is important for Pristina to adhere to the agreement that Kosovo special forces can move to the north only with the consent of NATO and the mayors of the four municipalities where Serbs live. (see official announcement here)
In fact, in his statement, Vučić aims to link an agreement signed in 2013 by the then Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, and a NATO representative, for not allowing the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF), as they were called at the time, to carry out activities in the northern part of Kosovo without the permission of KFOR, and interpret it as an agreement with the Kosovo Police.
This was also clarified by the Minister of the Interior of Kosovo, Xhelal Sveçla, in brief points in his reaction.
Excerpt from the response of Kosovo's Minister of Interior, Sveçla:
"Milosevic's propaganda minister, Vučić, lied about the Kosovo Police in today's conference. A pledge from the past that the Kosovo Army (KSF) could not go to the north without the consent of the KFOR command, has been deliberately distorted. The Kosovo Police is authorized to ensure the rule of law and security for all citizens around the Republic of Kosovo. (see here)
After this, on the same day (Sunday, August 21), the director of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, Petar Petkovic, reacted, coming out in support of the Serbian leader - Vučić. He said that in northern Kosovo "only members of the Kosovo Police from the Northern Directorate can operate" and that "not all members of the Kosovo Police have this right, as the Minister of the Interior of Kosovo, Xhelal Svečla, claims" (here).
The same claim was repeated today (August 23) by the Serbian president, after the meeting with American Ambassador Hill.
To clarify this, hibrid.info addressed these statements by confronting them with facts.
The Serbian president's claim to link the April 19, 2013 agreement between former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and former Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, both in office at the time, to restrict the operation of the KSF in northern Kosovo, without KFOR's permission, to the Kosovo Police, turns out to be untrue (here).
In fact, in this Agreement, there is no mention of the Kosovo Police at all.
Hibrid.info also reviewed the Law on the Kosovo Police to verify whether the statement of these two Serbian officials is true, since the operation of this security institution in Kosovo is regulated only according to this relevant law. According to Article 4, point 3 of the Law on the Police, it is stated that “The police operate through a unified chain of command throughout the territory of the Republic of Kosovo." (see law here), without making any regional distinction.
Another document that hibrid.info has dealt with is the Agreement on the Normalization of Relations between Kosovo and Serbia, reached on April 19, 2013 between the two then prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia, respectively, Hashim Thaçi and Ivica Dacic, (here) which provides in more detail the functioning of the Kosovo Police in the north of the country.
In this agreement, which was ratified by the Assembly of Kosovo on June 27, 2013 (here), the functioning of the Kosovo Police is envisaged:
"There will be a police force in Kosovo, called the Kosovo Police. All police in Kosovo Northern Kosovo Police will be integrated into the Kosovo Police framework. Salaries will be from the KP only. 8. Members of other Serbian security structures will be offered a place in equivalent structures of Kosovo". (see point 7 of the document of this ratified agreement) here)
So, according to this agreement signed by the Prime Minister of Serbia himself, of which the current President Vučić was also a part as First Deputy Prime Minister (here), it is envisaged that the Police in northern Kosovo will be integrated within the framework of the Kosovo Police. However, this document does not contain details about its functioning in the north.
Analyze:
The claim by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and the Director of the Office for Kosovo, Petar Petković, that the Kosovo Police special unit cannot operate in the northern part of the country without the permission of the mayors of the four Serb-majority northern municipalities of Kosovo is untrue.
Even the attempt to link this to another agreement, the one between Kosovo and NATO, according to verification of the facts, turns out to be a fabricated interpretation.
For this reason, hibrid.info evaluates these claims as "Manipulation of Facts".
Reasoning:
“Factual manipulation” is a rating given to media reports that use facts known to be accurate but interpret them in a distorted manner. These reports typically use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thereby misleading consumers of media content about the actual meaning of the facts presented.