Serbian Internal Affairs Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said on Friday that the Kosovo authorities want to use membership in Interpol to reinforce statehood not to improve their crime fighting capabilities.

The minister told Belgrade based TV Pink that a decision to induct Kosovo into Interpol would be political and would jeopardize that international organization’s professionalism.

Internal Affairs Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told Belgrade based TV Pink that the Serbian authorities are talking to every possible country about Pristina's request to join Interpol.

Stefanovic says that the aim of those contacts was to prevent the “politicization” of the international police organization whose members voted not to grant membership to Kosovo in 2018.

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic spoke in Belgrade with Alexander Prokopchuk, vice-president of Interpol and head of the Russian National Central Bureau - Moscow, the Serbian MIA announced.

Stefanovic met Prokopchuk to discuss reasons of Serbia's opposing the Kosovo's accession to Interpol, bearing in mind that representatives of Pristina institutions have again applied for entry to the international police organization.

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic spoke this morning for the RTS morning news where he said that the army of Serbia and the police remain in full combat readiness, following the Kosovo special forces incursion in the North of Kosovo. Stefanovic adds it will remain so if there are estimations that it is necessary.

Speaking about KFOR's allegations that Belgrade was informed of the action, the minister said it was an attempt to make a spin and that it was absolutely incorrect.

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told reporters in Belgrade that only on a ground of doubt that Vladimir Mikula, who is on the list of judges of the Special Court for KLA crimes, had dinner with lawyer Arianit Koci, who defends former KLA members Rrustem Mustafa and Sami Lushtaku, must lead to his exemption.

Mustafa and Lushtaku were summoned to a hearing at the Special Prosecutor's Office in The Hague.

Serbia’s Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic warned the Kosovo Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, not to even think of using force against Serbs in Kosovo, because Serbia will know how to respond.

Commenting on Haradinaj’s statement that "Kosovo’s army would be deployed to the north if the border is threatened," Stefanovic said that this clearly shows how nervous Haradinaj is.

Serbia’s Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic asked Interpol chiefs and the members to the organization's Executive Committee not to look at Kosovo’s new membership application and to vote against if it was put on the next years' General Assembly meeting, N1 reported.

Opposition People's Party leader Vuk Jeremic says that the position of the Serbian authorities towards Russia is "insincere and hypocritical."

He argued that Russia supports Serbia, but not the current authorities.

Jeremic told the srbin.info website that Russian President Vladimir Putin "does not trust Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic because of his relations with the West."

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s close associate, Internal Affairs Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said he would advise the president to do nothing about Kosovo and leave the problem to someone else.

Stefanovic told Monday’s issue of Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti that it would be hard to find a solution to the Kosovo problem in 2019.

A meeting of the Bureau for Coordination of Security Services has been held in Belgrade on Friday morning.

The Minister of Interior says that a detailed work plan for all services has been agreed upon during the meeting.