Byzantine Blog

Volunteer Squad for Kosovo-Metohija Defense Set Up in Montenegro

Montenegrin Patriotic Movement for Kosovo-Metohija said in a statement on Thursday that the first volunteer squad for Kosovo defense, which will be based in one of the coastal towns, had been set up at the patriotic assembly in the city of Ulcinj.

The Movement rallies the refugees from Kosovo province and all people in Montenegro who have some connections with Serbia’s southern province and want it to remain within Serbia, the organization said.

After its May 23 assembly in Ulcinj, the movement said it “did not set up a paramilitary unit or an armed group, but a patriotic squad of volunteers who would join Serbian patriots in case of a need to defend the southern province.”

St. Tsar Lazar Guard, Serbia’s Volunteers for Kosovo Province Defense

The gathering of volunteers in Montenegro follows the formation of the St. Tsar Lazar Guard in Serbia, at the beginning of the month.

Although the Serbian volunteer assembly hosted by the Serbian National Movement in the Lazarica church in the city of Krusevac on May 5 was interrupted by the police and subsequent public gathering of the Guard was prohibited by the Serbian authorities, the organizers claim that the swear-in ceremony went as planned and the Guard vowed to liberate Kosovo-Metohija province in case it is forcefully seized from Serbia.

A hundred veterans have attended the Serbian volunteer assembly and, according to the Serbian Veterans Movement president Veljko Vasiljević, the number of eager volunteers in Serbia has topped 5,000 mark at the beginning of May, before the Assembly was scheduled to take place.

Like the Montenegro volunteers, the St. Tsar Lazar Guard formed in Serbia emphasized they are not an armed squad of paramilitaries, but a patriotic assembly of men who would submit to the command of regular Serbian Army in the event Kosovo-Metohija is severed from Serbia.