Amid growing nervousness in Serb-majority northern Kosovo, NATO commander says the alliance is more than ready to deal with any trouble on the streets.

The Commander of NATO’s Allied Joint Force in Naples, Admiral James Fogo, has said that NATO is ready to react if violent incidents erupt in the Serb-majority north of Kosovo – after a leading Serbian Orthodox cleric in Kosovo, Abbot Sava Janjic, warned of the risk of “staged” violence there.

Discovering facts about the harmful effects of depleted uranium on the population of Serbia would start at the end of August or beginning of September in Vranje, BETA news agency reported.

The news was announced by the chairperson of the Investigative Commission of NATO bombardment consequences, Darko Laketic.

Laketic also said he believes the first preliminary report can be done by 2020, since documentation received from the Italian Parliamentary Commission (on the consequences of depleted uranium on Italian soldiers who were in Kosovo in 1999) is very useful.

NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said in Brussels on Tuesday that KFOR would not withdraw from Kosovo.

The first lawsuits are expected to be filed in the fall by Serbian citizens suffering from cancer.

They will sue NATO countries because of the use of depleted uranium during the 1999 bombing of Serbia.

This was announced on Monday President of the Association of Citizens "Depleted Uranium" Sveto Nogo. The lawsuits will be filed individually, he explained.

Serbia’s health and environment ministries agreed to begin a state-sponsored investigation of the alleged effects on public health caused by the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.

Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar and Environment Minister Goran Trivan signed an agreement on Tuesday to start the state-sponsored investigation of alleged damage caused by the NATO air campaign.

A study on the consequences of the NATO bombardment of Serbia in 1999 has officially started, Serbian media reported.

An agreement between the four ministries: health, environmental protection, defence, and education and science, was signed and 15 million RSD have been allocated.

The study should prove whether the increase in percentage of patients suffering from malignant and autoimmune diseases is a direct consequence of the bombardment of Serbia in which depleted uranium ammunition was used.

Leader of Peoples’ Party Vuk Jeremic said the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic plans to cause unrests in the north of Kosovo in the next couple of months in order to present an agreement with Pristina, which includes membership of Kosovo in the UN, as an alleviation.

“We have seen this recipe before, pull up the strings, set a fire, then distinguish it and present it as God’s given solution. This is how Vucic intends to reach “historic agreement,” Jeremic said during the founding ceremony of Peoples’ Party Municipal Board in Vozdovac (Belgrade) municipality.

Serbs in Kosovo do not support the formation of an army in Kosovo, and it will not be formed, Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin has said.

Milovan Drecun, Chairman of the Committee for Kosovo of the Assembly of Serbia, told regional broadcaster N1 that it was uncertain whether dialogue in Brussels would continue by the end of this month, but that the more important question is what will be discussed and whether a move will be made.

KFOR Commander, Major-General Salvatore Cuoci said in Slobodno srpski talk show that KFOR did not take part in the investigation of Oliver Ivanovic murder, but it is ready to get involved if asked. General Cuoci said in security aspects for the entire region, it would be very important to resolve this murder.

He further added, so far KFOR did not receive any request for support regarding Ivanovic murder investigation, and he remains certain that the prosecution and police actively work on finding evidences and resolving this case.