(Belgrade) Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Sunday refuted any involvement of the Serbian state in an attack against a vital water canal in the territory of Kosovo, which the government accuses him of having “orchestrated” using of “Russian methods” of threat.
Posted at 10:23 a.m.
Updated at 12:02 p.m.
“They accused Belgrade and Serbia […] We know for sure that it has nothing to do with Belgrade,” the Serbian president said at a press conference.
“There is no greater interest for Serbia than to learn the truth,” said Mr. Vucic, according to whom it is necessary to seek the origins of this act with the intention of Pristina not to hinder the European path of Serbia, but also in the electoral campaign in Kosovo, with a view to the legislative elections in February.
A former Serbian province with an Albanian majority, Kosovo proclaimed its independence in 2008, never recognized by Belgrade.
A crucial canal for supplying drinking water and electricity to thousands of Kosovar homes was damaged by an explosion on Friday evening near Zubin Potok (northwest), a region bordering Serbia and mainly populated by Serbs.
Several tens of kilometers long, it has its source in the artificial lake of Gazivode (north-west) and supplies the cooling circuits of two thermal power plants, “Kosovo A” and “Kosovo B”, near the Kosovar capital, Pristina. .
“Serbia is copying Russian methods to threaten Kosovo and our region in general,” said Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Pristina.
According to him, the interruption of water supply to the “Kosovo B” power plant would have caused it to stop “for weeks”, and “left almost half of the population (of Kosovo, 1.6 million inhabitants) without electricity”, but also around 130,000 inhabitants of Pristina without heating, and “nearly 300,000” people without drinking water.
“The severity and consequences of this attack, if it had achieved its objective, would have been enormous,” Mr. Kurti said.
Water delivery was restored through a “temporary” solution, and the explosion which damaged the canal had no impact on electricity production, but disrupted the supply of drinking water.
The “attack” was condemned on Sunday by Washington, which will support efforts to “find and punish those responsible”.
The head of diplomacy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, denounced on Saturday “a terrorist attack” and “a despicable act of sabotage against the essential civilian infrastructure of Kosovo”.
« Suspicions »
“Professional organizations specializing in these types of terrorist attacks are behind this. Serbia is the only entity with the capacity, means and interest to commit such acts,” Mr. Kurti said on Saturday, visiting the site of the explosion.
“We have no connection with this,” the Serbian president retorted on Sunday.
“I am not going to claim today that the attack was ordered by Kurti […]. We are also carrying out our own investigation,” added Mr. Vucic.
According to him, the Serbian authorities have “certain suspicions” about the identity of the sponsor and “about a possible author” of the attack.
Without further specifying this accusation, the Serbian leader denounced a “hybrid attack”.
“Yesterday there was an attempted hybrid attack, big and fierce, against our country,” Vucic said, referring to the attack and the Pristina accusations.
Hybrid strategies consist in particular of mobilizing, in peacetime, indirect means, such as cyberattacks, disinformation or sabotage.
Kosovar Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla announced on Saturday evening the arrest of eight suspects, suspected of having participated in “criminal and terrorist activities”.
According to Serbian authorities, only “two people” were still in detention on Sunday.
The director of the Kosovar police, Gazmend Hoxha, for his part indicated that “200 military uniforms, 6 grenade launchers, two rifles, a pistol, masks and knives” were seized by the police.
Kosovo law enforcement officers have been deployed since the attack around “essential installations,” including bridges, transformers, antennas, lakes and canals, the government said.
Relations between Belgrade and Pristina have remained difficult since the end of the war (1998-1999). Tensions regularly spike, particularly in northern Kosovo where a large Serb community lives.
Friday's attack follows a series of incidents in the north, including grenades thrown at a public building and a police station days earlier, and comes ahead of legislative elections due to be held on 9 FEBRUARY.
