Kosovo's Interior Minister: Radoičić acted with Vučić's support

(Patria) - Kosovo's Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla says in an interview with Radio Free Europe (RSE) that competent authorities, through international partners, will seek the extradition from Serbia to Kosovo of all those who participated in the planning and execution of the terrorists' actions in Banjska.

Armed groups in this village in the northern part of Kosovo attacked Kosovo police forces on September 24, killing Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku.

Five days after the attack, Milan Radoičić, former vice-president of the Srpska Lista party, the largest party of Serbs in Kosovo, claimed responsibility for organizing the attack.

Svecla states that Radoičić did not act alone as he claimed, but with the support of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

He says that investigations so far have shown that "more than 80 terrorists" participated in the attack on Banjska.

He also discusses suspicions of Russian involvement, as well as security risks that continue to threaten Kosovo.

-Milan Radoičić admitted the fact, because his participation in this terrorist attack has been proven. But all the facts indicate that Milan Radoičić did not act on his own, he did not act alone. He is continuously supported by Aleksandar Vučić, the Government of Serbia, and all the instruments that state has.

We know very well that he was extremely close to Aleksandar Vučić, who was the propaganda minister during Milošević's government. Although he is the President of Serbia, he is still the propaganda minister.

Their intention is to minimize pressure on Serbia, wanting to locate the culprit. The culprit is known, it is Aleksandar Vučić and his extremist ideas regarding the entire region, not just Kosovo.

The quantity and types of weapons seized on September 24 in Banjska are impossible for an individual to collect, even if he is extremely powerful, like Milan Radoičić. There is military equipment, there are weapons manufactured in 2021, 2022 – which shows that these are not remnants of the war from 1998/99, nor from earlier in the Balkans, but these are weapons that arrived directly from Serbian warehouses. From the army. We have proven this by presenting the documents we seized, which show the receipt and handover of this weaponry.

Also, this is not an isolated case, because we found similar weapons, of similar production series, earlier in Zvečan, on June 23, then again on August 7 and September 5 – either in Zvečan or in North Mitrovica. This means it was a well-organized, detailed plan, which failed thanks to the determination, willingness to sacrifice, and professionalism of the Kosovo Police. But the plan was much larger. Vučić is involved. The Serbian Government is involved. Obviously, Russia itself is involved in this scenario, he said.

-We will continue to investigate the attack in detail, to identify all the terrorists who participated in it, to investigate the entire hierarchy of the two organizations we have already declared terrorist – the Northern Brigade and the Civil Protection – but also to document the direct links with the Serbian Government.

At the same time, we will ask Serbia – certainly through our partners – to hand over all the wounded who managed to escape from Kosovo, as well as those who escaped unharmed, to Kosovo justice, given that only in this way, realistically, can we achieve the normalization of the situation in Kosovo.

We will also ask for all incursions or aggressions by Serbia to be stopped once and for all, including the withdrawal of the army from near our border.

We think there are risks. We are on alert. We are preparing to face and successfully respond to any challenge, given that we already have extremely bad experiences, either with Serbia or with its president, Aleksandar Vučić, Svecla said.