NATO CAN AND MUST STOP OPENING OF BRIDGE OVER THE IBAR

BELGRADE, AUGUST 20 /SRNA/ - Milovan Drecun, chairman of the Serbian Parliament's Committee on Defense and Internal Affairs, said that NATO can and must stop the opening of the bridge over the Ibar River between southern and northern Kosovska Mitrovica, as there could always be an attempt at a mass incursion by Albanians aimed at driving out Serbs.

Drecun said that this was why Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić was sending a letter to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

"I believe things depend mostly on them," Drecun told RTS.

He sees a particular danger to Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija in the announced reduction of KFOR’s responsibilities, and also pointed to the risk of the permanent deployment of members of the so-called Kosovo Security Force in the north of the province.

He expressed concern that KFOR would allow them to establish a permanent presence in the north in the second phase.

"That would amount to a complete consolidation of what Albin Kurti calls their borders," Drecun warned.