The presence of the Albanian army in the northern part of Mitrovica was "deliberate and planned," the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said. The goal was to intimidate the Serbs in Kosovo and provoke Serbia, President Vucic said on Friday.

Late on Thursday, the Serb List, a party representing Serbs in Kosovo, asked KFOR to explain the presence of several soldiers from Albania in the northern, Serb part of the ethnically divided town earlier in the day.

They were among a large group of international soldiers brought to Mitrovica North by KFOR, Radio Kontakt Plus reported.

Speaking while he was touring the Belgrade Waterfront project, Vucic said that it was "quite logical that the presence of Albanian soldiers brought unease among people" in the north of Kosovo and Metohija.

"This is an unambiguous indication to KFOR to pay attention to such things. Take them to Djakovica, but don't take them to northern Mitrovica," the Serbian President said, and reiterated that if KFOR fails to do its job and protect Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, "there are those who will."

Commenting on announcements that former US secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Hillary Clinton will visit Pristina on June 12, on the occasion of the anniversary of KFOR's entry into Kosovo, Vucic said that this was as expected, because the two had been involved in "creating an independent Kosovo."

"It's their baby, they were creating an independent Kosovo contrary to the norms of international public law, which a majority of humankind sees today, and we will make sure that the Trump administration, too, sees who was creating an independent Kosovo," the Serbian President said.