Serbia's Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said he “ordered the full combat readiness” of police and other security units and that they be placed under the command of the army chief of staff according to "their operational plan.”
He said in a statement that he acted on the orders of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic so that “all measures be taken to protect the Serbian people in Kosovo.”
It was not immediately clear what this order meant on the ground as Serbian troops have been on alert for a while on the border with Kosovo.
Officials claim alleged harassment of Kosovo Serbs by ethnic Albanians who are a majority in the breakaway province that declared its independence in 2008.
Earlier Monday, NATO-led peacekeepers said they were investigating a shooting incident in a tense northern region of Kosovo, urging calm as Serbia's top military officials inspected their troops on the border in a show of combat readiness.
Serbia's defense minister and the army's chief of staff traveled to the border with Kosovo, praising the combat readiness of Serbian troops and their firepower, including howitzers and other military hardware. Serbia, which has been armed through Russian donations and military purchases, has been sabre rattling and threatening force against its former province for a long time.
Fears of violence have soared since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine. The United States and most European Union countries have recognized Kosovo's independence, while Serbia has relied on Russia and China in its bid to maintain claim on the province.
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