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☆ Serbia Offers Amnesty for Illegal Firearms, and Thousands Are Collected
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Cora Engelbrecht | Joe Orovic | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The Serbian authorities have collected thousands of weapons in a sweeping campaign to reduce the number of firearms in the hands of civilians in the week after two mass shootings stunned the country, officials said Friday. More than 9,000 illegal and legal weapons have been collected, according to Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, who called the effort “a great step forward for a safer environment for our children” and “all our people,” at a news conference on Friday. “Some people say it’s not the gun that shoots the bullet but a man,” he said. “But if that man doesn’t have a gun, the evil in his head can’t do any harm.”Mr. Vucic did not specify if all the guns had been handed over voluntarily or if some had been seized.

Persons: Aleksandar Vucic, ”, Mr, Vucic Organizations: Serbian

☆ Serbians surrender over 3,000 pieces of weapons after mass shootings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The amnesty was launched on Monday after a 13 year-old schoolboy with two handguns allegedly killed eight pupils and a security guard. He is now in custody and undergoing a psychological evaluation but cannot be held criminally responsible due to his young age. Last Thursday, a man brandishing an assault rifle and a pistol killed eight and wounded 14 people in two villages in central Serbia. Vucic said people so far surrendered over 3,000 pieces of weaponry, without specifying what kind. In previous gun amnesties launched over past two decades, people handed over banned military-grade arms, hunting weapons, handguns, and also barrels, locking mechanisms and other parts.

[1/5] People attend a protest "Serbia against violence" in reaction to recent mass shootings that have shaken the country, in Belgrade, Serbia, May 8, 2023. Crowds in numbers not seen in the Balkan country for years, solemnly marched through the city centre behind a banner reading "Serbia Against Violence". Opposition parties and some rights groups accuse President Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of autocracy, oppressing media freedoms, violence against political opponents, cronyism, corruption, and ties with organised crime. In response to the shootings, Serbia's police on Monday started a one-month amnesty for surrendering illegal weapons. In addition to existing gun laws, Vucic announced police checks of registered gun owners.

☆ What’s Behind Serbia’s Gun Violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Cora Engelbrecht | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Back-to-back shootings in Serbia this week, one in a school, have stunned the population and brought global attention to gun control in a country with one of the world’s highest rates of gun ownership. Promising an “almost complete disarmament,” the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic, said on Friday that he planned to introduce sweeping changes to tighten gun regulations in response to the two shootings, one by a minor and the other with an illegal firearm. He also called for a one-month amnesty on Friday for gun owners to surrender illegal weapons without penalty ahead of the more stringent measures. Here is a look at Serbia’s trouble with guns and the restrictions the government proposed this week.

Persons: Aleksandar Vucic Locations: Serbia, Serbian

Belgrade, Serbia CNN —Serbians are reeling and demanding answers after two mass shootings in less than 48 hours left multiple people dead, with widespread calls for tough action to prevent any further repeat of such tragedies. You could never dream that this would happen here,” Belgrade resident Marko Kovacevic told CNN. “This is the worst thing that happened in Serbia since the bombing in 1999,” another resident, David Stevens, told CNN at a vigil in Belgrade. The murderer had no empathy or remorse,” he told CNN in an interview on Thursday. His deputy, Milan Pašić, told CNN his boss had offered his resignation, but it was not clear if it would be accepted.

[1/6] People pay tribute following a school mass shooting, after a boy opened fire on others, killing fellow students and staff in Belgrade, Serbia, May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Antonio BronicBELGRADE, May 4 (Reuters) - Two pupils wounded in Serbia's first mass school shooting were in critical condition on Thursday, health officials said, as the country prepared for three days of national mourning. A teacher and six pupils were wounded. Milika Asanin, director of the University hospital, said that the condition of a severely wounded boy treated there had improved, but was still considered critical, the Tanjug news agency reported. The remaining children and the teacher treated in the two hospitals were in stable condition, both Ducic and Asanin said.

☆ Girl wounded in Serbia school shooting is critical, doctor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] People pay tribute following a school mass shooting, after a boy opened fire on others, killing fellow students and staff in Belgrade, Serbia, May 4, 2023. "The girl who underwent an urgent surgery yesterday due to head injuries ... remains in critical condition and in intensive care," Sinisa Ducic, the acting director at the city's Tirsova hospital, told reporters. They are being treated in the Tirsova hospital and the city's University Hospital. Two wounded boys in the Tirsova hospital were in stable condition and were expected to be discharged in coming days, Ducic said. The suspected shooter used two pistols that belonged to his father, police said on Wednesday.

☆ Serbia takes steps to prevent school violence after shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BELGRADE, May 4 (Reuters) - The Serbian government said it had introduced a set of measures on Thursday to prevent potential violence in schools a day after a 13-year-old boy shot and killed eight students and a guard in a Belgrade elementary school. Because of his age the boy cannot be criminally prosecuted under Serbian law but he will be placed in a psychiatric institution, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said. The government said in the statement that it had decided to halt issuing of licences to weapon holders. The justice ministry will prepare changes to the criminal law to prosecute those who enable access to weapons to children. The government will also change a legislation within one month to enable schools to test students for drugs and alcohol, the statement added.

☆ The President, the Soccer Hooligans and an Underworld ‘House of Horrors’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Robert F. Worth | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

direction, and he chose not to.” Serwer speculated that Vucic has concluded the reforms required to join the E.U. The notion that Serbia can “balance” the West against Russia is largely a mirage, Bassuener said. One afternoon in Belgrade, I spent an hour talking to Boris Tadic, who served as Serbia’s president from 2004 until 2012, when he lost to Vucic’s party. Vucic, he said, had “helped put criminals in power” with the belief that he could control them. “What is the final outcome of your power if you’re going to destroy the foundations of society with hooligans and criminals?” he asked.

☆ Bosnia Serb leader Dodik threatens to declare indepdendence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BELGRADE, April 14 (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Friday told his ally Serbia he was seriously considering declaring the autonomous Serb Republic independent from the rest of Bosnia unless a row over a property law is resolved. Dodik's hardline Serb nationalism and pro-Russian stance have raised concern that Bosnia might fracture again along ethnic lines, a generation after its devastating war. According to constitution, the national parliament must adopt a property law that would be valid across Bosnia, but Dodik, who is president of the Serb Republic, says that deprives the Serb region in Bosnia of the right to its land, rivers and forests. During his 25 years in power either as the region's president or premier, Dodik has acted to strengthen the autonomy of the Serb region. Last month, Dodik ordered that Serb officials should halt all contacts and communication with US and UK ambassadors in Bosnia, after they had criticised his inflammatory rhetoric.

The chart showed that Serbia declined to provide training to Ukrainian forces, but had committed to sending lethal aid or had supplied it already. It also said Serbia had the political will and military ability to provide weapons to Ukraine in the future. The Pentagon also did not immediately respond to Reuters questions about the document's reference to Serbia and has previously declined to comment on any of the leaked documents. Vucic's government has professed neutrality in the Ukraine war, despite the country's deep historic, economic and cultural ties with Russia. "We didn't export any weapons or ammunition to Russia or Ukraine," he said during a March 5 visit to Qatar.

BELGRADE, April 7 (Reuters) - Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday that ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo will not participate in local elections due to be held later this month - a move likely to aggravate current disagreements over Pristina's rule. The elections for municipal bodies were postponed in December 2022 after Serbs blocked roads and border crossings. Representatives of Serbs from northern Kosovo, including the Belgrade-backed Serbian List party, want to see an association of Kosovo Serb municipalities set up before they take part in the vote. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has repeatedly called on Serbs to participate in the local vote. Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade and Fatos Bytyci in Kosovo; Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Serbia wants to normalise ties with Kosovo but will not sign any agreement
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BELGRADE, March 19 (Reuters) - Serbia wants normal relations with Kosovo but still won't sign any agreement with it, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday, a day after he verbally agreed to implement a Western-backed plan for the normalisation of ties. "Serbia wants to have normal relations with Kosovo. "I didn't want to sign the agreement on the implementing annex last night nor the EU-backed agreement (in Brussels last month)," Vucic told reporters. "I don't want to sign any international legally binding documents with Kosovo because Serbia does not recognise its independence." Under their verbal agreement, Kosovo committed to giving greater autonomy to Serb majority areas, while Serbia agreed not to block Kosovo's membership in international organisations.

☆ Kosovo, Serbia leaders arrive for EU-backed talks on deal to normalise ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Fatos Bytyci | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"I am optimistic," Kurti said ahead of the meetings, taking place in the lakeside town of Ohrid in North Macedonia. Kosovo and Serbia agreed in Brussels last month to a Western-backed deal to normalise relations, following nearly 10 years of EU-mediated dialogue during which little progress was made. "The eyes of the EU & the Western Balkans are on Ohrid today," Borrell tweeted. Belgrade and Pristina need to mend bilateral ties for both to achieve their strategic goal of joining the EU. "I want to caution that we may not have a final agreement," Gabriel Escobar, the senior U.S. diplomat for the Western Balkans who is also attending the Ohrid talks, told Pristina-based RTV21 station.

☆ Kosovo, Serbia agree on "some kind of deal" to normalize ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/3] Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic speaks to the media, in Ohrid, North Macedonia March 18, 2023.REUTERS/Ognen TeofilovskiOHRID, North Macedonia, March 18 (Reuters) - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that Kosovo and Serbia have reached "some kind of a deal" on implementing a Western-backed deal to normalize ties on Saturday. This is not the final deal," Vucic told reporters in Ohrid. He said that despite disagreements on some issues, talks with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti were "decent". He said Serbia's path towards EU membership will be conditioned on implementing the deal. Reporting by Fatos Bytyci and Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Thousands in Belgrade protest against Western-backed Serbia-Kosovo deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Ivana Sekularac | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Protesters shout slogans and hold signs during a demonstration against a Western-backed deal on normalizing ties between Kosovo and Serbia in Belgrade March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Djordje KojadinovicBELGRADE, March 17 (Reuters) - Several thousand people gathered in Belgrade to protest against a Western-backed deal to normalise ties between Kosovo and Serbia, which they view as recognition of Kosovo independence. Bilateral ties need to be mended for Serbia and Kosovo to achieve their strategic goal of joining the EU. Protesters held Serbian flags and banners reading "Kosovo is not for sale," "Serbia, not European Union," and "No to capitulation." "This is just the start of the protest," said Milos Jovanovic, leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia, which was one of the protest organisers.

☆ EU hopeful that Kosovo and Serbia will reach deal this month
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PRISTINA, March 9 (Reuters) - The European Union expects former wartime foes Kosovo and Serbia to reach a final deal next week on normalising relations after both endorsed a peace plan, the bloc's envoy said on Thursday. The nations' leaders are due to meet on March 18 in North Macedonia to discuss implementation of an 11-point EU plan after agreeing last month that its contents needed no further talks. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, almost a decade after a guerrilla uprising brought an end to repressive Serbian rule. The EU plan does not commit Serbia to acknowledging an independent Kosovo but it would recognise documents such as passports, diplomas and licence plates. He was to travel next to Serbia for talks with President Aleksandar Vucic.

☆ Serbian nationalists march in protest against Kosovo talks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Many Serbs view Kosovo, home to the Serbian Orthodox faith's main churches and monasteries, as the heartland of the Serb nation. Serbian nationalists who also want closer ties with Russia, Serbia's longtime ally, criticise President Aleksandar Vucic for his role in talks over a Western-backed deal with Kosovo. "The people of Serbia which soiled this land with blood will not give away Serbian Kosovo, because Kosovo is sacred," said Zorica Mojsic from Belgrade as he walked with other marchers. The Serbian Orthodox Church organised its own prayers for Kosovo, set to last until Easter, but did not endorse the march and its clergy did not participate. On Friday, the Serbian Orthodox church's Patriarch Porfirije said in a sermon "no one should teach the church ... what is Kosovo... Liberating Kosovo with words is easy."

He also declared he will not sign anything that recognises Kosovo "formally or informally" and would never agree to its membership of the United Nations. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, almost a decade after war brought an end to Serbian rule. While Vucic says he will not even "informally" recognise Kosovo, such a definition is ultimately a matter of interpretation. A senior EU official said an overall deal would be final only "when we also know exactly how it will be implemented - within what timelines, by whom". The official said the two sides had made significant progress but "the last mile is always the most difficult".

☆ West gains advantage as it vies with Russia for influence in Serbia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Aleksandar Vasovic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

T-shirts with the letter Z, a symbol of Russia's campaign, are sold as souvenirs while far-right groups openly tout support for Russia. Last month, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that while Serbia had made progress in EU accession negotiations, Brussels required more. A separate CRTA poll found 61% felt Belgrade should preserve good relations with Moscow even at the cost of EU ties. U.S. and EU sanctions mean Serbia can no longer send its fighter jets or helicopters, based on ex-Soviet technology, to Russia for overhauls, nor purchase new weapons from Russia. Cedomir Stojkovic, a Belgrade-based lawyer and activist whose October Group publishes lists of prominent Serbs who are outspoken supporters of Russia, said Serbia was under Russia's "hybrid occupation".

☆ EU extends $647 mln grant for Serbia's fast railway line
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BELGRADE, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The European Union on Tuesday extended a 610 million euro ($647.15 million) grant to Serbia for the construction of a fast railway line that will connect southern Serbia with central Europe. The 208-kilometre line should connect the Serbian capital Belgrade with the southern town of Nis. President Aleksandar Vucic said the EU grant was the largest ever given to Serbia, which has received a total of 420 million euros in EU grants so far. "The EU is now giving us 610 million euros as a gift," said Vucic, adding that the new railway line will enable travellers from Nis to get to Budapest in less than five hours. Vucic said Serbia would provide 525 million euros for the project and would take out loans of 1.1 billion euros and 550 million euros with the EIB and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development respectively.

Speaking after hosting talks in Brussels between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, Borrell said the leaders agreed "no further discussions" are needed on the deal between the former wartime foes. But Serbia still regards Kosovo as a breakaway province and flare-ups between the Balkan neighbours have stoked fears of a return to conflict. Under the new deal, Serbia stops short of recognising Kosovo as an independent state but agrees to recognise official documents such as passports, diplomas and licence plates and not to block Kosovo's membership of any international organisation. Borrell said the annex was an "integral part" of the new deal but it had not yet been agreed. Vucic has insisted Kosovo establish an association of Serb-majority municipalities, as agreed by a previous Kosovo government.

☆ Serbia to buy loitering munitions from UAE, invest in military industry -president
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Within the next 48 hours, we will sign the contract (for the munitions)," President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday while visiting a defence exhibition in the UAE's Abu Dhabi. "These are suicide drones and they will be in Serbia, and we are hoping to have the first domestic suicide drones in the Serbian army within five or six months," he told reporters in remarks carried live by Serbian television. Vucic did not specify how many loitering munitions Belgrade would obtain from the UAE, their price, or the manufacturer. Vucic said on Monday Serbia wants to bolster its military and defence industry by investing an additional 700 million euros ($746.62 million) through 2023. Last year, Vucic said Serbia wanted to purchase Rafale multipurpose fighter jets from France.

[1/4] A person rides on a motorcycle with Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) flag attached to it on the day of celebrations of the 15th anniversary of Kosovo independence in Pristina, Kosovo, February 17, 2023. "Our independence was achieved through struggle and sacrifice, but our independence will only grow through work," Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said ahead of the parade. Tensions with Serbia linger as Belgrade continues to support the refusal of 50,000 minority Serbs in north Kosovo to accept the country's independence, declared almost a decade after an uprising against repressive Serbian rule. Resolving their volatile stand-off is a major condition for Serbia and Kosovo to progress towards EU membership. The anniversary was ignored in the Serb-majority town of North Mitrovica in north Kosovo.

☆ Serb nationalists pledge riots if Belgrade tries to improve ties with Kosovo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Police block Serbian right-wing protesters who attempted to storm the New Palace, the seat of President of Serbia, during a protest against the Serbian authorities and French-German plan for the resolution of Kosovo in Belgrade, Serbia, February 15, 2023. REUTERS/Zorana JevticBELGRADE, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Hundreds of hardline Serb nationalists and pro-Russia activists rallied in downtown Belgrade, threatening riots if Serbia accepts a Western-backed plan aimed at mending ties with Kosovo, its former mainly Albanian southern province. Pro-Russian sentiment is running high in Serbia which regards Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, as a main ally in its opposition to the 15-year-old independence of Kosovo. Protesters, carrying posters reading "Kosovo-No Surrender", cheered "Serbia-Russia" when ultranationalist Damjan Knezevic called for rioting if Belgrade seeks to improve ties with Kosovo. Knezevic admits ties with Russia's Wagner mercenary group which is fighting in Ukraine.

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