Kosovo authorities have expelled two members of Serbia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MPB) just hours after detaining them on Saturday, citing concerns over national security, their lawyers confirmed to Radio Free Europe on Sunday.
Nikola Vujović and Mladen Milojević were expelled on Saturday evening, and both have been banned from entering Kosovo for five years, according to their respective attorneys, Bogdan Lazić and Srđan Mitrović.
Vujović and Milojević were among four individuals—three active members and one retired member of Serbia’s MPB—who were arrested in Kosovo on Saturday. However, Kosovo authorities have officially confirmed only the arrest of Vujović and their intent to expel him. Kosovo’s acting Interior Minister, Xhelal Sveçla, announced on Saturday that Vujović’s Kosovar citizenship had been revoked due to his affiliation with Serbian intelligence and security institutions.
“Vujović poses a threat to our national security as a member of Serbia's police forces,” Sveçla stated.
Milojević serves as a Serbian police officer in Raška and is originally from Leposavić, a Serb-majority municipality in northern Kosovo. Vujović, who hails from Zubin Potok, also in northern Kosovo, has indicated plans to file a lawsuit against the revocation of his Kosovar citizenship, according to his lawyer.
Under Kosovo’s citizenship law, an individual may lose their citizenship if they engage in activities that endanger national security; if they are a member of an organization aiming to undermine Kosovo’s constitutional order; or if they are affiliated with the intelligence or police services of another country without consent from local authorities or an existing international agreement.
Minister Sveçla further accused Serbia of conducting “systematic efforts” to destabilize Kosovo internally by recruiting Kosovar citizens into its security and intelligence structures—an act he described as illegal and a direct threat to Kosovo’s national security.
Serbia’s Office for Kosovo strongly condemned the arrests, claiming that Kosovo’s authorities had “no legal basis” for the detentions and describing them as “politically motivated retaliation against the Serbian people.”
The arrests in Kosovo came one week after Serbian authorities detained a former member of Kosovo’s Special Police Unit, Arbnor Spahiu, on June 7 at the Hungary-Serbia border while he was returning from Austria with his family.
Serbian authorities suspect Spahiu of involvement in the “aggravated murder in Banjska,” referring to the September 2023 attack in which an armed Serbian group assaulted Kosovo Police, killing Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku. Spahiu’s lawyer, Arianit Koci, stated in an interview with Radio Free Europe on Friday that his client is being targeted in connection with that incident.
The escalating tensions reflect ongoing volatility in Kosovo-Serbia relations, especially concerning issues of law enforcement jurisdiction, citizenship, and mutual accusations of destabilizing actions.