The Serb members of the Kosovo police, who defy the authorities of Pristina are paid by Serbia’s police or MUP or Serbian Ministry of the Interior, wrote an Albanian language newspaper in Pristina yesterday.

The newspaper wrote, “The officers, who have refused to take orders from Pristina, have already received two paychecks from the MUP”.

The daily Zeri, which claimed to have received the information from “reliable”, and unidentified sources, articulated that the amount received by the Serb policemen in northern Kosovo was “from EUR 400 to 600″, which is twice what the KPS members earn. However, it did not say anything on whether the suspended Serb police officers in Pristina and Gnjilane also receive their salaries from Belgrade.

Zeri wrote, “Both UNMIK police and the KPS are keeping their eyes closed to the fact that a new Serb police force is being formed in northern Kosovo.”