Serbia puts military on high alert over Kosovo.

RT - Belgrade put its military on high alert on Tuesday as the separatist region of Kosovo began implementing a plan to ban Serbian license plates, the country's Defense Minister Milos Vucevic announced.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who is also the commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces, ordered the military to "increase the level of combat readiness to be prepared to respond to any task," Vucic said in an interview with Happy TV.

"Speaking of peace and stability from Serbia does not mean that we are weak, that we can be harassed and humiliated," he stressed, apparently addressing the Kosovo administration.

The country's army, which is "many times stronger than it used to be," remains fully committed to protecting all Serbian citizens, including Serbs in Kosovo, the minister warned. "No one should doubt that," he added.

However, Vucevic stressed that Belgrade was not seeking conflict, saying that "it is better to negotiate for a thousand days than to spend a day in the trenches." 

The situation in northern Kosovo, where many Serbs reside, has been tense. Local authorities began implementing their restrictions early in the day and issued the first warnings to owners of vehicles with Serbian license plates, he said.

According to Pristina's plan, the first warnings will be issued, followed by penalties of 150 euros (approximately 149 dollars). After a transition period ending in April 2023, drivers who have not changed their Serbian license plates to Kosovar plates will have their cars seized.

The ban was initially scheduled to take effect on August 1, but was postponed after Serbs in northern Kosovo created roadblocks in preparation to resist the heavily armed special police that Pristina had deployed to the area. 

Since then, the parties have been unable to find a way to resolve the impasse. Last week, Vucic warned that Kosovo's attempts to restrict the movement of cars with Serbian license plates would "certainly meet with the democratic resistance of the Serbian people, and the Serbian state will not allow the persecution and murder of its people."

The United States and many of its allies recognized Kosovo, predominantly populated by Albanians, as a sovereign state in 2008, but Serbia still considers the province part of its territory. Belgrade is supported by others, including Russia and China, who do not recognize the territory as an independent entity.