The Serbian military is on alert amid ongoing tensions with neighboring Kosovo over the issue of vehicle license plates, the country's defense minister said Tuesday.
Milos Vucevic told local Happy TV the military will do whatever is necessary to protect Serbian citizens, including those in Kosovo.
"We cannot be relaxed, but we can advocate dialogue," said Vucevic.
"It is better to negotiate for one thousand days than to spend a single day in trenches," he added.
Kosovo has tried many times this year to make its Serb minority renew their car license plates dated before 1999 when Kosovo was part of Serbia. The move has resulted in violent clashes between police and local Serbs.
Serbia, which lost control over Albanian-majority Kosovo after the 1999 NATO bombing campaign, refuses to recognize the independence of its former province and has not allowed Kosovo license plates on its territory since 2008.
The two countries in 2013 committed to a European Union-sponsored dialogue to resolve outstanding issues but little progress has been made. Both the United States and the EU have called Pristina and Belgrade to ease tensions and find a compromise.
Around 50,000 Serbs who live in the north of Kosovo, which borders Serbia, refuse to recognize Pristina's authority.
More than 13,000 people are believed to have died during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo when the southern province was still part of Serbia under the rule of late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
The fighting ended after NATO airstrikes against Milosevic's forces, and Kosovo is now an independent country.
Kosovo’s independence is recognized by some 110 countries including the United States, Britain and most Western countries, but not by Russia, Serbia's traditional ally, and five EU member states.
Kosovo’s north has witnessed many ethnic clashes since the end of the war.
