Serbs in Kosovo are no longer unprotected - defense minister

Serbs are no longer unprotected and the March Pogrom will not repeat, Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin has said.

He was referring to the large-scale violence in Kosovo in March 2004 that targeted Serbs, and their property and holy places.

Vulin in this way reacted to Kosovo President Hashim Thaci's statement made on Monday, about responding with guns to "threats coming from Serbia."

The only threat Thaci is facing, the minister continued, is a verdict for war crimes for which he has been avoiding punishment for decades - "and that's also the origin of his fear that those who brought him to Kosovo through the 1999 aggression will now leave him to face justice."

"Serbia is not making threats against anyone, and especially not towards its southern province, and, if it wasn't for the policy of peace conducted by President Vucic, criminals like Thaci would have set the Balkans on fire a long time ago," Vulin said, and observed that only the unprotected and the weak feared Thaci's guns in the past - "something that Serbs are not any longer."

The March Pogrom will not repeat, he said, and added that by loudly condemning Thaci's incitement and threats, the EU and NATO would prevent themselves from once again becoming his hostages and being drawn into the conflicts that Thaci is inviting and looking for.

"It's time to shush the criminal," the minister said, according to a statement from his cabinet.