Serbia Warns It Will Protect Kosovo Serbs if NATO Doesn't

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) Serbias president called on NATO on Sunday to do their job in Kosovo or he says Serbia itself will move to protect its minority in the breakaway province.

The fiery televised address to his nation by President Aleksandar Vucic followed the collapse of political talks between Serbian and Kosovo leaders earlier this week mediated by the European Union in Brussels.

Serbia, along with its allies Russia and China, has refused to recognize Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence. A NATO-led intervention in 1999 ended the war between Serbian forces and separatists in Kosovo and stopped Belgrades bloody crackdown against Kosovo's majority Albanians.

The EU has overseen years of unsuccessful talks to normalize their ties, saying thats one of the main preconditions for Kosovo and Serbias eventual membership in the 27-nation bloc.

We have nowhere to go, we are cornered, Vucic said. We will save our people from persecution and pogroms, if NATO does not want to do it.