"MUP pays ex-KPS Serb members"

An Albanian language newspaper in Pristina claims that some Serb members of the Kosovo police, KPS, are now paid by Serbia's police, MUP. The daily Zeri says that the officers, who have refused to take orders from Pristina, "have already received two paychecks from the MUP". "MUP pays ex-KPS Serb members" Citing "reliable", and unidentified sources, the paper says that the amount received by the Serb policemen in northern Kosovo was "from EUR 400 to 600", which, the reports said, is twice what the KPS members earn. The same source, however, "could not confirm" that the suspended Serb police officers in Pristina and Gnjilane also received their salaries from Belgrade. A spokesman for the KPS, Veton Elshani, refused to make any comment on this report. "Both UNMIK police and the KPS are keeping their eyes closed to the fact that a new Serb police force is being formed in northern Kosovo," Zeri wrote, and added that in this way, "the inevitable facing with a new reality, a separate police in the north of Kosovo, is prolonged". The daily also believes the salaries are "the last stone in the mosaic" of the new police force, "which need not be called MUP, but is under Belgrade's direct command". The report adds that in this way, the Serbian authorities are completing "a parallel system of state governance" in northern Kosovo.

"MUP pays ex-KPS Serb members"

Citing "reliable", and unidentified sources, the paper says that the amount received by the Serb policemen in northern Kosovo was "from EUR 400 to 600", which, the reports said, is twice what the KPS members earn.

The same source, however, "could not confirm" that the suspended Serb police officers in Priština and Gnjilane also received their salaries from Belgrade.

A spokesman for the KPS, Veton Elshani, refused to make any comment on this report.

"Both UNMIK police and the KPS are keeping their eyes closed to the fact that a new Serb police force is being formed in northern Kosovo," Zeri wrote, and added that in this way, "the inevitable facing with a new reality, a separate police in the north of Kosovo, is prolonged".

The daily also believes the salaries are "the last stone in the mosaic" of the new police force, "which need not be called MUP, but is under Belgrade's direct command".

The report adds that in this way, the Serbian authorities are completing "a parallel system of state governance" in northern Kosovo.