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"We are driven into corner," President Vucic says (Tanjug, B92)

Aleksandar Vucic says that "we are driven into a corner" and asked, "what shall we do on December 15 when hotheads move to the north of Kosovo and Metohija."

The Serbian President was addressing an unscheduled press conference late on Monday when he said he was "bringing bad news" and that even after (EU Commissioner) Johannes Hahn's trip to Pristina, "the Albanians would not even hear about the abolition of the taxes (on goods from central Serbia)."

As he said, "the first bad news is that Pristina emphasized that it will not abolish the tax (recently increased by 100 percent) until Serbia recognizes Kosovo's independence."

"Another bad news is that the Albanians today announced the formation of an army (in Kosovo) for December 14. Johannes Hahn was unequivocal when it comes to the taxes that Pristina introduced, they said that the taxes would be abolished when Serbia recognizes Kosovo's independence. Serbia will not negotiate like that. The problem is, what will we do on December 15 or January 15, when one of the hotheads sends an army to the north of Kosovo," Vucic said.

This, he says, brings us to "the highest level of danger in the region." Pristina's moves, he added, are "irresponsible, terribly irresponsible and lead us to the worst kind of danger":

"I do not want to say the word, what their intention is, but I'm afraid they are leading us all to a fait accompli."

As Vucic remarked, "it seems like we the Serbs are guilty because they are enraged in Kosovo because of the vote in Interpol," adding, "I guess we should have voted for them (Pristina joining), so that they would not take measures."

Vucic said that measures will certainly affect us, but not dramatically, because we have good results, and those would be "even better."

"They are doing this to expel the Serb people from Kosovo and Metohija, so that their boot would occupy the north of Kosovo. I said that at the beginning and I repeat it today," Vucic said.

In this, "many will oppose them publicly, but will essentially be hiding their eyes and keeping silent, and waiting for this to happen, while Serbia's hands are tied."

"Our hands will not be tied, because we have been driven into a corner, we no longer have a choice. What remains for us to do it is to fight for peace, explaining to everyone in the world what the goal of the Albanians is, and to be with our people," Vucic said.

"We have been driven into a corner, we have no place to go out and there is nowhere to take shelter. What will we do? Fight for the truth to be heard far away, plead with everyone that the security of Serbs in Kosovo is not endangered, the international community, KFOR... is that enough? We will see," he told reporters.

Vucic emphasized that "his entire policy was to preserve our national interests, to be a proud and dignified people, not to be destroyed as a state, and to preserve peace."