Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that his country will "protect our people" in Kosovo if needed, following increasing tension and the collapse of talks in Brussels. 

In an emotional speech on Sunday, his tone of voice and body language emphasized his frustration and the gravity of the situation. Last week's negotiations in Brussels between Vucic and Kosovan leader Albin Kurti was the latest EU attempt to broker a deal between Belgrade and Pristina, and defuse the increasing friction between them. 

Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 but is not universally recognized as a sovereign state, including by the UN. The tension was intensified recently after a new government in Pristina decided to impose a blanket ban on Serbian license plates and IDs from August 1. 

After Belgrade's strong reaction, and the EU's interference, Pristina moved the deadline to September 1, but the extended deadline so far hasn't provided a solution for the problem. To prevent further escalation, a NATO-led international peace keeping force (KFOR) is deployed in the north of Kosovo – a part of the province where Serbs are a vast majority of the population.

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But despite this presence, Vucic warned that if Pristina's pressure on Serbs in Kosovo continues, Serbia would move to protect its population.

"We don't have anywhere to go, we are cornered," Vucic stressed. "Our key message to our people in Kosovo is that whatever and however it should happen, there will be no refugee columns. 

"And we'll protect our people from persecution and from mobs, in case NATO doesn't do that, if the KFOR forces don't want to do that – or if they together with the Albanian units participate in that persecution... of our population. And I hope they won't." 

The refugee columns he mentioned have a significant place in recent Serbian history as hundreds of thousands of Serbs were forced to flee many former Yugoslavia republics and provinces during violent collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. 

Vucic said that over 210,000 Serbs fled Kosovo since 1999 as the result of the NATO bombing, and subsequent pressure by Albanians. 

Ever since Kosovo declared independence, the two sides have tried to find a common ground for peaceful coexistence, but so far have failed to do so.