Serbian authorities detained Kosovo-Serb politician Milan Radojcic on Tuesday and charged him with manufacturing and trafficking firearms in Kosovo after he said he was involved in a deadly shootout with Kosovo police 10 days ago, Reuters reported.

Tensions between Belgrade and Pristina have risen sharply since September 24, when about 30 armed Serbs attacked law enforcement officers and then barricaded themselves in a Serbian Orthodox monastery near the Serb-populated village of Banska in northern Kosovo, leading to a shootout with Kosovo police.

Three attackers and a Kosovo policeman were killed.

Serbia’s Prosecutor General’s Office said Radojcic was questioned on Tuesday on suspicion of the involvement of others in the illegal production, storage and trade of firearms and explosives.

He added that Radojčić allegedly bought weapons, ammunition and explosive devices in the Bosnian city of Tuzla, which were to be delivered to Belgrade between January and September 2023.

After delivery, he allegedly transported and stored the weapons in various locations in Kosovo, either in abandoned buildings or in forests, the statement said.

On September 24, Radojchich and his group “put the lives of the residents of Banska in danger,” the prosecutor said.

Radojcic denied any criminal activity. The prosecutor asked the court to keep Radojchich in custody, as he may escape.

Last month’s firefight raised new international concerns about stability in ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a guerrilla insurgency and NATO intervention in 1999.

About 50,000 Serbs living in the north of Kosovo do not recognize the institutions in Pristina and consider Belgrade their capital. They have often clashed with Kosovo police and international peacekeepers, but last month’s violence was the worst in years.

Radojicic, vice president of the Serbian List party that dominates northern Kosovo, admitted to the shootout, saying he had come to Kosovo with a group “to encourage the Serbian people to resist the terrorist regime of (Prime Minister Albin) Kurti.” Serbian police questioned him about his claims last week.

Authorities in Pristina accused Belgrade of providing financial and practical support to the operation, which Serbian authorities denied. Kosovo and Western countries have also accused Serbia of increasing its military presence in the so-called ground safe zone, a 5 km wide strip inside Serbia along the border with Kosovo.

On Monday, the commander of the Serbian army, General Milan Mojsilovic, said that the country had withdrawn part of its troops.

Brief history of the incident:

• In the latest violence, on September 24, a paramilitary force of several dozen men killed a Kosovo Albanian policeman and wounded another at a checkpoint near the village of Banska in northern Kosovo, a Serb-majority region.
• Three members of the militant group, all Kosovo Serbs, were later killed and three others were arrested in an operation launched by the Kosovo Police Special Forces. Russia accused Kosovo of “bloodshed”.
• Others ran away. The United States, Kosovo’s main international ally, warned on Friday of a “large-scale troop deployment by Serbia along the border with Kosovo,” calling on Serbia to “withdraw (its troops).”
• At the time, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic accused Washington of telling “lies,” while denying the presence of Serbian troops. He said the number of Serbian troops was significantly lower than in a similar deployment in May.