Serbia to Deploy Military to Help Police Over Migrant Crisis If Necessary

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said that the police in Serbia have been mobilized to handle the refugee crisis, and the army should be ready to assist the police as law enforcement must also perform regular duties.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Serbian army will be sent to assist the police at the borders of Serbia if safety concerns emerge, the country's Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said on Friday.

Last week, police chiefs of Slovenia and Croatia, as well as Austria, Serbia and Macedonia, agreed to strengthen border control on the West Balkan migration route and to introduce a new system of migrant registration.

"A number of servicemen will, if necessary, be deployed at the borders to protect the country from undocumented immigration. We need to know who enters the country," Stefanovic was quoted by the Beta news agency as saying.

He said that the police in Serbia have been mobilized to handle the refugee crisis, and the army should be ready to assist the police as law enforcement must also perform regular duties.

The European Union is currently struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa for Europe. The Balkans are often used by refugees as a transit route to wealthier EU states, which prompted them to intensify their border controls.

On Thursday, the Bulgarian parliament approved the deployment of the country’s military to assist in securing the country's borders amid the ongoing migrant crisis.

Earlier in the day, Slovenia and Croatia announced a new border regime that would allow them to let in no more than 500 migrants a day.