Top related persons:
Top related locs:
Top related orgs:

Search resuls for: "Kosovo police"


24 mentions found


CNN —Kosovo police said Sunday that they have killed three armed attackers and arrested another amid an ongoing shootout in the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo. Kosovo is majority Albanian, but like other villages in the north, Banjska is predominantly Serbian. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but Serbia sees Kosovo as a breakaway state. Kosovo Police and a group of armed, masked men stand in front of the Banjska Monastery in North Kosovo. Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia have escalated in recent months with violent protests erupting in May over controversial local elections.
Persons: , , Veton Eljsani, Albin Kurti, Josep Borrell, ” “, Borrell Organizations: CNN, Kosovo police, Police, , Facebook, “ Kosovo Police, Kosovo Police, . Police, AP, Kosovo, Serbia’s Foreign, EU, KFOR, NATO Locations: Banjska, Kosovo, ” Kosovo, Serbian, Serbia, Belgrade, Pristina, , North Kosovo, Banjska Monastery, EULEX
PRISTINA (Reuters) - One Kosovo police officer was killed and another injured in a shooting in a village in the north of Kosovo early on Sunday, in the first such major violence in months, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a statement. "At this moment, gunfire with various caliber firearms against our police is still ongoing," Kurti said in a post on Facebook, describing the incident as terrorist action. Tensions have run high in Kosovo, the former Serbian province, after clashes in May when more than 90 NATO peacekeeping soldiers and some 50 Serb protesters were injured in northern Kosovo. Ethnic Albanians form more than 90% of the population in Kosovo, with Serbs being the majority only in its northern region where a Serb-majority municipalities association is planned. (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Jamie Freed and Bernadette Baum)
Persons: Albin Kurti, Kurti, Josep Borrell, Fatos Bytyci, Daria Sito, Jamie Freed, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Facebook, NATO Locations: PRISTINA, Kosovo, Serbian
PRISTINA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - One Kosovo police officer was killed and another injured in a shooting in a village in the north of Kosovo early on Sunday, in the first such major violence in months, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a statement. "At this moment, gunfire with various caliber firearms against our police is still ongoing," Kurti said in a post on Facebook, describing the incident as terrorist action. Tensions have run high in Kosovo, the former Serbian province, after clashes in May when more than 90 NATO peacekeeping soldiers and some 50 Serb protesters were injured in northern Kosovo. Ethnic Albanians form more than 90% of the population in Kosovo, with Serbs being the majority only in its northern region where a Serb-majority municipalities association is planned. read moreReporting by Fatos Bytyci; writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Jamie Freed and Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Albin Kurti, Kurti, Josep Borrell, Fatos Bytyci, Daria Sito, Jamie Freed, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Facebook, NATO, Thomson Locations: PRISTINA, Kosovo, Serbian
The result is that, despite Serbia’s professed hopes to join the EU, Vucic has continued to walk a tightrope between Moscow and western powers. A Pristina government official told CNN that they did not want to “surrender” official government buildings to protesters. A decade on, these municipalities have not been created, leaving disputes to fester over the degree of autonomy for Kosovo Serbs. After such episodes, Joseph told CNN that the “see no evil” approach to Vucic’s regime may be starting to crack. “The situation is clear who the bully of the Balkans still is,” Meliza Haradinaj, Kosovo’s former foreign minister, told CNN.
Persons: Moscow’s, Aleksandar Vucic, Vladimir Putin, Daniel Mihailescu, ” Jasmin Mujanovic, Vucic, , Mujanovic, Alicia Kearns, , , Serbia's Aleksandar Vucic, Albin Kurti, Serbia’s, you’ll, Kearns, wouldn’t, Putin, Viktor, Orban, ” Majda, you’re, Quint, ” Kurti, Kurti, Edward Joseph, Laura Hasani, He’s, Shqiprim Arifi, Arifi, Ben Kilb, ” Dusan, Milorad Dodik, Oliver Bunic, Boris Grdanoski, ” Joseph, Viktor Oban, Joseph, Biden, Aleksandar Vulin, ” “ He’s, ‘ we’re, ’ He’s, I’ve, ” Vucic, Meliza Organizations: CNN, European Union, Putin, Belgrade, Getty, Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, NATO, National Security, United Nations, Kosovo's, EU, Anadolu Agency, Gazprom, Serbian, European Council, Foreign Relations, , US, Kosovo Serbs, Kosovo’s, Johns Hopkins University, , Kosovo Serb, Reuters, British, Kosovo, Kosovar Business Alliance, Kosovar, Serbs, “ Association of, Bloomberg, ASM, Russian, AP, Serbia ”, KFOR, NATO’s Kosovo Force, Red Star, Red Star Belgrade soccer Locations: Russia, Ukraine, United States, Serbia, Europe, Belgrade, West, Kosovo, Kosovo’s, Kosovar, AFP, Russian, Balkan, Western Balkans, British, United, EU, Brussels, Belgium, Moscow, ” Kosovo, Serbs, France, Germany, Italy, Balkans, Pristina, … Serbia, Zvecan, Serbian, Presevo, Albanian, Leposavic, Republika Srpska, ” Republika Srpska, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Dayton, Banja Luka, Kurti, Ohrid, North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, appeasing Serbia
Serbia releases three detained Kosovo policemen, easing crisis
  + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +3 min
The European Union welcomed the move and urged Kosovo and Serbia to take further steps to defuse the simmering crisis, including holding new local elections in northern Kosovo. [1/5]One of the released Kosovan policemen (L) arrives at the Kosovo-Serbia border crossing, in Merdare, Kosovo June 26, 2023. The ruling effectively allowed the Serb authorities to maintain the charges while letting the three return to Kosovo, beyond the reach of the Serb court. Albanian-majority Kosovo, formerly a southern province of Serbia, declared independence from Belgrade in 2008 with the backing of the West following a 1998-99 war. Violence flared in four northern Kosovo municipalities late last month after ethnic Albanian mayors took office following a local election.
Persons: Josep Borrell, Albin Kurti, Kurti, Oliver Varhelyi, Aleksandar Vasovic, Fatos, Andrew Gray, Toby Chopra, Andrew Heavens, Alex Richardson Organizations: European Union, Prosecutors, REUTERS, Court, Kosovo's, Twitter, Thomson Locations: BELGRADE, Serbia, Kosovo, Luxembourg, United States, Merdare, Serbian, Kraljevo, Belgrade, Serbs, Brussels, Washington, EU, Pristina
BELGRADE/PRISTINA, June 23 (Reuters) - Serbia's army commander urged NATO peacekeepers and other international bodies on Friday to step up measures to protect minority Serbs in Kosovo, adding that "the international community is not fulfilling its obligations." Mojsilovic in a rare public address said he had asked NATO peacekeeping mission KFOR and other international bodies to undertake urgent measures to protect ethnic Serbs there. Earlier on Friday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was "very alarmed" by the situation in northern Kosovo, citing "extrajudicial arrests" of Kosovo Serbs and the march by Kosovo Security Forces "followed by heavy rhetoric from Serbia". Ethnic Serbs, who make up the majority of the population in the region, had boycotted the vote. Ethnic Albanians make up more than 90% of the population in Kosovo, while the Serbs form the majority in four northern municipalities and several enclaves inside Kosovo.
Persons: Milan Mojsilovic, Mojsilovic, Xhelal Svecla, Svecla, Josep Borrell, Borrell, Albin Kurti, Aleksandar Vucic, Armend Mehaj, Aleksandar Vasovic, Fatos, Andrew Gray, Hugh Lawson, Mark Porter, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: NATO, European Union, KFOR, Belgrade, Kosovo Security Forces, Kosovo, Twitter, Kosovo Defence, Kosovo police, Serbian, Thomson Locations: BELGRADE, PRISTINA, Kosovo, Serbia, Mitrovica, Mojsilovic, Zvecan, Kosovo Serbs, Serbian, Brussels, Belgrade, Pristina, Yugoslavia, Montenegro
BRUSSELS, June 22 (Reuters) - EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell proposed steps to end weeks of violence in predominantly Serb areas of northern Kosovo to the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia on Thursday, but there were no signs of an immediate breakthrough. Tensions worsened after Serbian police arrested three Kosovo policeman last week, saying they crossed the border between the two countries. The top EU diplomat said he asked Kurti "to announce early elections, as soon as possible, in all four municipalities on condition of participation of Kosovo Serbs". "Here is the core of the problem and also the core of the solution - early elections, as soon as possible," Borrell told reporters after four hours of talks. Vucic said he was ready for more talks with EU mediators, adding that meeting Kurti in person "makes no sense".
Persons: Josep Borrell, Albin Kurti, Aleksandar Vucic, Borrell, Kurti, Borell, Vucic, Aleksandar Vasovic, Andrew Grey, Fatos, Alex Richardson Organizations: Kosovo, Kosovo police, EU, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Kosovo, Serbia, Pristina, Serbian, Brussels, Kosovo Serb, Kosovo Serbs, EU
PRISTINA, June 19 (Reuters) - NATO forces in Kosovo are ready to face any situation if acts of violence similar to recent encounters threaten the peace, the NATO commander in Pristina said late on Monday. Some 30 NATO peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo were injured in clashes with Serb protesters late on May. We do not react, we act," the commander of NATO troops, known as KFOR, Angelo Michele Ristuccia told to a group of journalists from his headquarters in the outskirts of Pristina. Kosovo says the three were arrested inside its territory by Serbian officers who had crossed the border. Some 50,000 Serbs who live in the north part refuse Pristina ruling and consider Belgrade as their capital.
Persons: Angelo Michele Ristuccia, Ristuccia, Albin Kurti, Kurti, Fatos Bytyci, Franklin Paul Organizations: NATO, KFOR, European Union, Franklin Paul Our, Thomson Locations: PRISTINA, Kosovo, Pristina, Serbs, Serbia, United States, Serbian, Belgrade
[1/4] Trucks with goods queue at the Kosovo-Serbia border crossing in Merdare, Kosovo, June 15, 2023. REUTERS/Valdrin XhemajPRISTINA, June 15 (Reuters) - Kosovo has tightened controls on its border with Serbia following the arrest of three of its policemen by Serbian forces, Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Thursday as he demanded the immediate release of the detainees. "Because of the security concerns as an immediate step border controls have been tightened with Serbia," Kurti told a press conference on Thursday. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nearly a decade after an uprising by the 90% ethnic Albanian majority. Kosovo and Serbia share a 400-km (250-mile) border which has not been clearly marked or agreed.
Persons: Albin Kurti, Kurti, Serbia's, Aleksandar Vucic, Quint, Vucic, Fatos Bytyci, Ivana Sekularac, Alex Richardson Organizations: REUTERS, Valdrin Xhemaj, Serbian, Belgrade, Reuters, EU, European Union, NATO, Thomson Locations: Kosovo, Serbia, Merdare, Valdrin, Valdrin Xhemaj PRISTINA, Pristina, Serbian, United States, Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Balkans, Belgrade
[1/5] Kosovo police officers guard near the village of Bare, Kosovo, June 14, 2023. Three Kosovo police officers were detained by Serbian forces on Wednesday but officials from Kosovo and Serbia gave different locations for the arrest, accusing each other of crossing the border illegally.... Read morePRISTINA/BELGRADE, June 14 (Reuters) - Three Kosovo police officers were detained by Serbian forces on Wednesday but officials from Kosovo and Serbia gave different locations for the arrest, accusing each other of crossing the border illegally. "The entry of Serbian forces into the territory of Kosovo is aggression and aimed at escalation and destabilization," Kurti wrote on his Facebook page. But Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said the three were arrested "as far as 1.8 kilometers (1 mile)" inside Serbian territory near the village of Gnjilica. In 1999, a NATO bombing campaign drove Serbian security forces out of Kosovo but Belgrade continues to regard it as a southern province.
Persons: Read, Albin Kurti, Kurti, Aleksandar Vucic, Vucic, Fatos Bytyci, Ivana Sekularac, Aleksandar Vasovic, Frank Jack Daniel, Jonathan Oatis, Angus MacSwan, William Maclean Organizations: Kosovo, Serbian, Reuters, NATO, Thomson Locations: Bare, Kosovo, Serbia, PRISTINA, BELGRADE, Serbian, Gnjilica, Balkans, Belgrade
Around 200 Serbs gathered in North Mitrovica to protest against the arrest, with Kosovo Albanian police in anti-riot gear standing a few hundred metres away. During the operation to arrest Milun Milenkovic, three Kosovo Albanian policemen were lightly injured, Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said on his Facebook page. Kurti said nothing about setting up the association of Serb municipalities which would ensure greater autonomy for the Serb majority area. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic urged Kosovo last week to grant more autonomy to Serbs before organising a new vote. NATO bombing drove out Serbian security forces but Belgrade continues to regard Kosovo only as its southern province.
Persons: Kurti, Milun Milenkovic, Xhelal Svecla, Albin Kurti, Quint, Aleksandar Vucic, Petar Petkovic, Milenkovic, Fatos, Ivana Sekularac, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: KFOR PRISTINA, Kosovo Albanian, NATO, KFOR, European Union, U.S, Serbia, Serbian, Thomson Locations: Kosovo, North Mitrovica, U.S, United States, Republic of Kosovo, Italy, France, Germany, Britain, EU, Serbian, Brussels, Serbia, Belgrade
Tensions have risen in the past week after ethnically Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo, a majority Kosovo Serb area, following April elections that Kosovo Serbs had boycotted. NATO’s Kosovo Force (KFOR) said the recent developments prompted them to increase their presence in northern Kosovo on Monday morning, which they later said turned violent. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her sympathy for the Italian KFOR soldiers injured in the clashes, adding in a statement, “What is happening is absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible. But Serbia still considers Kosovo to be an integral part of its territory as do the Serbs living in northern Kosovo. NATO has troops stationed in Kosovo to maintain peace, with tensions often flaring between Serbia and Kosovo.
[1/6] U.S. KFOR soldiers stand guard in front of the municipality office, while ethnic Serbs gather to protest, in the town of Leposavic, Kosovo, May 29, 2023. KFOR troops also acted to protect the town halls in Zubin Potok and North Mitrovica from possible threats. Serbs refused to take part in local elections in April and ethnic Albanian candidates won the mayoralties in four Serb-majority municipalities with a 3.5% turnout. Serbs have called on the Kosovo government to remove ethnic Albanian mayors from town halls and allow local administrations financed by Belgrade return to their duties. NATO peacekeepers deployed in Kosovo after the alliance's 1999 bombing campaign that drove Serbian security forces out of Serbia's then-southern province, ending a brutal counter-insurgency campaign.
"International companies that were supposed to arrive for the first time in Kosovo told us that they were delaying opening shops due to the unstable situation," Fatmir Zymberi told Reuters. The main, longstanding fount of tensions is the refusal of 50,000 ethnic Serbs in north Kosovo to recognise the government in Pristina or Kosovo as a separate country. The area of north Kosovo where ethnic Serbs form a majority looks in some respects like an extension of Serbia. The Kremlin denied influencing Serbia to stir up conflict, saying Belgrade was just defending the rights of Kosovo Serbs. "I am more worried than I have been in many years about the risk of conflict in north Kosovo that could then spill into reprisal attacks on Serbs in south Kosovo.
Serbia's former province of Kosovo declared independence in 2008 following the 1998-1999 war during which NATO bombed rump-Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, to protect Albanian-majority Kosovo. Last month, for the first time since the end of the war, Serbia requested to deploy troops in Kosovo in response to clashes between Kosovo authorities and Serbs in the northern region where they constitute a majority. Kosovo authorities condemned the incident, which has inflamed tensions. Goran Rakic, the head of the Serb List, which is the main Serb party in Kosovo, accused Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti of trying to drive out Serbs. International organisations condemned the attacks, expected to deepen mistrust between majority ethnic Albanians and around 100,000 ethnic Serbs that live in Kosovo.
[1/3] A view of Merdare border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia which was closed by Kosovo after protesters blocked it on the Serbian side to support their ethnic kin in Kosovo in refusing to recognise the country's independence, near Podujevo, Kosovo, December 28, 2022. REUTERS/Florion Goga/File PhotoMITROVICA, Kosovo, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Kosovo re-opened its biggest border crossing with Serbia on Thursday, hours after protesting Serbs in its north promised to remove roadblocks, easing a surge in tensions that has alarmed world powers. Two burned-out trucks filled with gravel stood on a bridge close to the ethically divided town of Mitrovica, some 50 km from the reopened Merdare crossing. Two border other crossings with Serbia in Kosovo's north remain closed since Dec. 10. The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed accusations from Kosovo's interior minister that Russia was influencing Serbia to destabilise Kosovo, saying that Serbia was defending the rights of ethnic Serbs.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia and Serbs in north Kosovo have refused to recognise that and their licence plates are still being issued by Serbia. Serbs in north Kosovo have erected barricades and blocked roads for about three weeks following the arrest of former police officer Dejan Pantic by Kosovo police. Vucic has called on Serbs in the north to remove barricades, Petkovic added. Vucic and Kosovo Serb representatives will meet Wednesday evening near the Kosovo border and announce if the barricades will be removed, Petkovic said. Earlier on Wednesday, the United States, NATO and European Union urged maximum restraint by both sides in the standoff.
CNN —Kosovo’s Prime Minister urged NATO peacekeeping troops to intervene after minority Serb protesters blocked roads and unknown gunmen exchanged fire with police over the weekend amid rising ethnic tensions in the country’s restive north. In recent weeks, minority Serbs in northern Kosovo have responded with violent resistance to moves by Pristina that they see as anti-Serb. On Sunday, Vucic said Serbia demanded the release of all arrested Serbs from northern Kosovo, but also seeks to defuse tensions in the region. Vucic accused authorities in Pristina and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Kurti of stoking tensions by making “countless unilateral moves.”“Whenever one would think we have something solved, another problem emerges,” Vucic said. “Kosovo police has nothing to do in the north…especially people armed…up to their teeth,” Vucic said.
BELGRADE, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Serbia demands the release of all arrested Serbs from northern Kosovo, but also seeks to defuse tensions there following tensions in the restive region, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday. After a meeting of the National Security Council, Vucic said Kosovo Serbs must not engage in violence against NATO troops and members of the European Union mission there. Asked whether Belgrade would seek to de-escalate the situation in northern Kosovo, he replied: "Absolutely." Serb protesters in northern Kosovo blocked main roads on Saturday after the arrest of a former Serb policeman. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, following the 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect Albanian majority Kosovo.
In recent weeks Serbs in northern Kosovo, a hotbed of Serb nationalism, have met attempts by Pristina which they see as anti-Serb with violent resistance. Barricades must be removed immediately by groups of Kosovo Serbs. For a second day on Sunday, trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles blocked several main roads in northern Kosovo that lead to two border crossings with Serbia. After Saturday's incidents, Goran Rakic, the head of the Serbian List party, which is supported by Belgrade, called on Serbs in northern Kosovo to show restraint and cooperate with NATO peacekeepers and EULEX. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with the backing of the West, following a 1998-1999 war in which NATO intervened to protect Albanian-majority Kosovo.
Kosovo police exchange fire with local Serbs blocking roads
  + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +3 min
[1/4] Kosovo Serbs block the road near the village of Rudine, North Mitrovica, Kosovo December 10, 2022. REUTERS/Ognen TeofilovskiMITROVICA, Kosovo, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Kosovo Serbs and country’s police exchanged gunfire on Saturday after a flareup of tensions in the volatile northern part of the country. Earlier in the day Serbs from Kosovo's north blocked main roads in the region to protest against the arrest of a former member of the Kosovo police who quit his post last month along with other ethnic Serbs. With a crisis mounting in the majority Serb north, Kosovo's president Vjosa Osmani on Saturday announced that local elections in that area would be delayed until April 23. "Serbia has instructed its illegal structures to set up barricades in the north Kosovo.
Kosovo president delays local elections in volatile north
  + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
PRISTINA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Kosovo's president on Saturday announced that local elections in majority Serb areas in the north would be delayed until April, a move aimed at defusing ethnic tensions that have intensified in recent months. Elections had been scheduled for Dec. 18 but Serbs said they would boycott the polls. Police in Pristina said Pantic was arrested for allegedly attacking election commission offices, police officers and election officials on Tuesday. Earlier, Kosovo police arrested another Serb, on suspicion of taking part in an armed attack on a police patrol. Reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Pristina, Ognen Teofilovski in North Mitrovica and Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade; editing by Ros RussellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Around 50,000 ethnic Serbs who live in Kosovo refuse to recognise Pristina's authority, and still consider themselves a part of Serbia. Belgrade has said it will never recognise Kosovo's independence. Hundreds of police officers, judges, prosecutors and other state workers from the Serb minority quit their jobs this month after Pristina ruled that local Serbs must finally replace car plates issued by Kosovo Serb municipal authorities, loyal to Belgrade, with Kosovo state ones. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who chaired the talks, blamed mainly Kosovo for rejecting an EU proposal on how to resolve the dispute. NATO, which has around 3,700 peacekeepers in Kosovo, said it was ready to intervene should the security situation be threatened.
Serb policemen quit jobs in anti-Kosovo protest
  + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
NORTH MITROVICA, Kosovo, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Kosovo Serb policemen who work in the Jarinje and Brnjak border posts in the north of the country resigned on Sunday in protest over Pristina's order to use Kosovo vehicle licence plates instead of those issued by Serbia. In North Mitrovica, several thousand Serbs gathered at noon to protest against obligatory Kosovo licence plates. Kosovo police said in a statement it was aware Serb police officers had abandoned their posts and some have handed over police equipment. Prime Minister Albin Kurti blamed Belgrade for seeking to destabilise Kosovo by supporting the Serbs in their boycott of state institutions. "The withdrawal of Kosovo Serbs from Kosovo institutions is not a solution to the current disputes.
Total: 24