"The Serbian army will not enter Kosovo"/ Vu?i? is afraid: We will withdraw our forces from that area

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says he has no intention of ordering his country's military forces to cross the border into Kosovo, despite warnings from US officials of an "unprecedented" escalation from Belgrade.

In a statement released to the Financial Times on Saturday, Aleksandar Vucic said he would withdraw Serbia's forces from the area because an escalation of the conflict would be counterproductive to Belgrade's EU aspirations.

"Why would this be beneficial for Belgrade?" Vucic said. "What would be the idea? To destroy our position that we have built for a year? To destroy this in one day? Serbia does not want war".

On Friday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US had noticed an "unprecedented staging of Serbian artillery, tanks and mechanized infantry units" on the border with Kosovo and called it a "very destabilizing development".

"We call on Serbia to withdraw those forces from the border and contribute to de-escalation," Kirby said, adding that Vucic and Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, had talked about ways to calm the situation.

International efforts to reduce tensions have increased in recent days after a violent clash near the Banjska monastery in Kosovo's Serb-majority north left at least four people dead, including a Kosovo policeman. Kirby said the attack was "well-coordinated and planned", adding that the size of an arms cache found afterwards threatened the safety of Kosovo officials and international personnel, including NATO troops. Vucic told the Financial Times that Washington's warnings were disproportionate as the number of Serbian forces on the ground was dwindling.

"Last year we had 14,000 soldiers near the administrative line, today we have 7,500 and we will reduce it to 4,000," he said. "Sending Serbian troops to the administrative line is a pure lie... Serbia would not benefit from it as it would jeopardize its position in the EU-sponsored talks with Pristina. The EU has said that it will not accept Serbia or Kosovo in the bloc until they normalize relations, Vucic said.