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☆ British troops patrol Kosovo-Serbia border as tensions remain high
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( Fatos Bytyci | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] British troops part of the NATO reinforcements patrol at the Kosovo-Serbia border in Jarinje, Kosovo November 24, 2023. NATO has sent 1,000 extra troops to the region, bringing its presence there to 4,500 peacekeepers from 27 countries. British soldiers are now being deployed in 18-hour shifts in freezing conditions to make sure no weapons or armed groups enter Kosovo. Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority, declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a guerrilla uprising and a 1999 NATO intervention. Around five percent of the population in Kosovo are ethnic Serbs, of which half live in the north and refuse to recognize Kosovo independence and see Belgrade as their capital.

Persons: Valdrin, Joss Gaddie, Jens Stoltenberg, Albin Kurti's, Fatos Bytyci, Mike Harrison Organizations: NATO, REUTERS, Atlantic Treaty Organization, Belgrade, KFOR, British Army, Reuters, Kosovo, Kosovo police, Thomson Locations: Kosovo, Serbia, Jarinje, NATO, Britain, Romania, Banjska, Balkans, Belgrade, Pristina

Some 50,000 Serbs who live in north Kosovo, do not recognise Pristina institutions and see Belgrade as their capital. Vucic told Reuters that Belgrade condemned the killing of the policeman, adding Serbia "will launch proceedings before appropriate judicial bodies" and investigate suspects. Belgrade finances schools, public health system, and most of other institutions in parts of Kosovo where Serbs constitute a majority. Vucic accused Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti of wanting to expel Serbs from Kosovo and of stalling a compromise solution needed for mending the ties between Belgrade and Pristina. "For us the position (in Kosovo) is clearly dreadful, but ... we have to be with our people, ... (and) try to preserve peace," Vucic said.

Persons: Aleksandar Vucic, Vucic, Veton Elshani, ”, Vjosa Osmani, Milan Radoicic, Albin Kurti, Kurti, Ivana Sekularac, Aleksandar Vasovic, Fatos Bytyci, Alison Williams Organizations: Reuters, BELGRADE, Kosovo police, Kosovo Albanian, Kosovo, Pristina, EU, NATO, Serbian, United Nations Security, of, Serbia, Thomson Locations: Reuters Belgrade, Serb, Serbia, Kosovo, Pristina, Belgrade, Serbian, Banjska, Albanian, Vucic, Russia, China, of Serb Municipalities

Kosovo authorities say around 30 heavily armed Serbs stormed the village of Banjska on Sunday, battling police and barricading themselves into the Serbian Orthodox monastery. Police recaptured the monastery late on Sunday after three attackers and one police officer were killed. Kosovo has accused Serbia of backing the armed militants; Serbia says Kosovo is to blame for mistreating residents in the Serb-majority area. It said one of them was Milan Radojcic, a Kosovo Serb politician and one of the leaders of the Serb List party. Serb List was the dominant Serb party in Kosovo's parliament before Serbs from the north and those loyal to Belgrade boycotted Kosovo's institutions nearly a year ago.

Persons: Milos Vucevic, Bjoern Arild Gram, Ognen, Aleksandar Vucic, Albin, Kurti's, Milan Radojcic, Dejan, Dusan Maksimovic, Fatos Bytyci, Aleksandar Vasovic, Ivana Sekularac, Christina Fincher, Alison Williams Organizations: Kovoso Police, Kosovo police, Police, ", Kosovo Serbs, REUTERS, KFOR, Kosovo, Reuters, Belgrade, Kosovo's, Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party, Thomson Locations: PRISTINA, BELGRADE, Kosovo, Banjska, Serbian, Serbia, NATO, Belgrade, Pristina, Serb, Zvecan, United States, EU, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Kosovo Serb, Kosovo's

☆ EU wants concrete steps by Kosovo to ease tensions before lifting sanctions –envoy
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PRISTINA, July 4 (Reuters) - The European Union will not lift political and economic sanctions on Kosovo unless the government de-escalates tensions with ethnic Serbs, EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak said on Tuesday during a visit in Pristina. EU countries imposed punitive measures on ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo after Prime Minister Albin Kurti's government failed to heed EU and U.S. requests to defuse strife in the country's north following the worst clashes in over a decade. "My wish is not to have sanctions," Lajcak told reporters in Pristina after a three-hour meeting with Kurti. Some 30 NATO peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo were injured in clashes with Serb protesters, and 52 Serbs were hurt. Lajcak said the EU also wanted Serbia, which north Kosovo Serbs still devote their allegiance 15 years after Pristina declared independence from Belgrade, to act constructively to defuse the crisis, or face penalties as well.

Persons: Miroslav Lajcak, Albin Kurti's, Lajcak, Kurti, ”, Kosovo's, Fatos, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: European, EU, Kosovo, ”, NATO, Wednesday, European Union, Thomson Locations: PRISTINA, Kosovo, Serbs, Pristina, Brussels, Serbia, Kosovo Serbs, Belgrade, United States

☆ No breakthrough as EU's Borrell holds crisis talks with Kosovo, Serbia leaders
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

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

☆ Kosovo tightens controls on its border with Serbia, PM Kurti says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Fatos Bytyci | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[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

The warnings came as U.S. and EU envoys concluded visits to Kosovo and Serbia to calm tensions that flared into violence last week, wounding dozens of NATO peace-keeping soldiers and Serb protesters in northern Kosovo. He and the EU's Miroslav Lajcak did not elaborate on what other consequences Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti's ethnic Albanian-dominated government might face if it did not accede to their demands. "I don't think that these things are resolved with pressure and by mentioning consequences and even sanctions," Kurti told reporters on Wednesday. "We have challenges with EU and U.S. envoys but our bilateral relations with the EU and U.S. are excellent." Lajcak said on Monday that the envoys presented proposals to Kurti to de-escalate the situation in northern Kosovo, adding they had a "long, honest, difficult discussion".

Persons: Balkans Gabriel Escobar, Escobar, Miroslav Lajcak, Albin Kurti's, Kurti, Lajcak, Vjosa Osmani, Peter Stano, Lajacak, Josep Borrell, Emelia Sithole Organizations: Kosovo’s, Kosovo PM, European Union, Kosovo, NATO, U.S, EU, United, Reuters, Washington, Europe, Thomson Locations: PRISTINA, BRUSSELS, United States, Kosovo, Serbia, Balkans, Belgrade, U.S, EU

☆ Biden aide expressed concern in calls with Kosovo, Serbia leaders
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Trevor Hunnicutt | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - A senior aide to U.S. President Joe Biden expressed concern about events in northern Kosovo in calls with Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, the White House said on Friday. In both calls, the White House said Finer expressed concern about the situation and pushed for all parties to reduce conflict. Washington also expected both sides to re-engage in a European Union dialogue and "to fully implement the normalization agreement" reached earlier this year. In violence on Monday, 30 peacekeepers and 52 Serbs who protested against the installation of ethnic-Albanian mayors were injured. The presidents of Serbia and Kosovo insisted on Thursday that they want to defuse the crisis but have shown little sign of backing down from their opposing positions.

Persons: Joe Biden, Albin Kurti, Aleksandar Vucic, Biden's, Jon, Kurti, Biden, Vucic, Trevor Hunnicutt, Grant McCool Organizations: U.S, White, House, Union, NATO, Thomson Locations: Kosovo, Serbian, Kosovo's, Pristina, Serbia, Washington

☆ NATO urges Kosovo to de-escalate tension with Serbia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The resulting clashes on Friday between Kosovan police and protesters opposed to the ethnic Albanian mayors prompted Serbia to put its army on full combat alert and to move units closer to the border. "We urge the institutions in Kosovo to de-escalate immediately and call on all parties to resolve the situation through dialogue," said Oana Lungescu, a spokeswoman for the transatlantic military alliance, in a Twitter post. She said KFOR, the 3,800-strong NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, would remain vigilant. It is also the right of citizens to be served by those elected officials," Kurti said on Twitter on Saturday. Ethnic Albanians form more than 90% of the population in Kosovo, with Serbs only the majority in the northern region.

☆ Kosovo backs off from Serb car plate rule after West warnings
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Kosovo has attempted a few times this year to require its Serb minority to change their old car plates that date before 1999 when Kosovo was still part of Serbia. "These car plates are illegal...we want to give a chance to all of those who are interested to be integrated," Kurti said. He said the decision was taken to respect the rule of law but also address Western countries' concerns. Mediated by the European Union and supported by the United States, Serbia and Kosovo have been holding talks for years to normalise relations but little has been achieved. Kosovo is recognized by around 110 countries, mainly western nations, but not by Serbia, China, Russia and others.

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