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☆ EU Envoy Tells Kosovo and Serbia to Return to Dialogue
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Oct. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

PRISTINA (Reuters) - The European Union Special Envoy Miroslav Lajcak urged Serbia and Kosovo to return to dialogue on normalising ties to avoid a repeat of last month's violence in northern Kosovo. Police recaptured the monastery after a shootout in which three attackers and a Kosovo police officer were killed. They have often clashed with Kosovo police and international peacekeepers, but last month's violence was the worst in years. Lajcak urged Pristina to start working on establishing an association of Serb municipalities to allow greater autonomy for Serb majority areas. Lajcak urged Belgrade to investigate the events and punish any perpetrators in its territory.

Persons: Miroslav Lajcak, Lajcak, Albin Kurti, gunbattle, Gabriel Escobar, Kurti, Aleksandar Vucic, Fatos Bytyci, Ivana Sekularac, Ros Russell Organizations: Union, Serbs, Police, Kosovo, United States, Serbian, Kosovo police Locations: PRISTINA, Serbia, Kosovo, Belgrade, Pristina, Banjska, Kosovo's, Serbian, NATO, Balkans, France, Germany, Italy

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 Police Enter Northern Village After Shootout With Gunmen Killed Four
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Sept. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

JOSEVIK, Kosovo (Reuters) - Kosovar police units in armoured vehicles moved in to secure and search a village in north Kosovo on Monday, a day after four people were killed in a shootout there between police and ethnic Serb gunmen in the restive region. The gunmen stormed the village of Banjska on Sunday, battling police and barricading themselves into a Serbian Orthodox monastery. The armed police units searched houses in the village on Monday, looking for any gunmen who had not fled, a police source told Reuters. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has blamed Serbia for financing and sending armed men to Kosovo. Tensions have been running high since clashes in northern Kosovo in May when more than 90 NATO peacekeeping soldiers and some 50 Serb protesters were injured in northern Kosovo.

Persons: Albin Kurti, Aleksandar Vucic, Kurti, Josep Borrell, Fatos Bytyvi, Ivana Sekularac, Edmund Blair Organizations: Reuters, Kosovar, Police, Serbian, Kosovo, European Union, NATO Locations: JOSEVIK, Kosovo, restive, Banjska, Serbian, Belgrade, Kosovo Albanian, Serbia, EU

☆ Kosovo police enter northern village after shootout with gunmen killed four
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A Kosovo police officer stands guard on a road to Banjska monastery, in the aftermath of a shooting incident, near Zvecan, Kosovo September 25, 2023. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski Acquire Licensing RightsJOSEVIK, Kosovo, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Kosovar police units in armoured vehicles moved in to secure and search a village in north Kosovo on Monday, a day after four people were killed in a shootout there between police and ethnic Serb gunmen in the restive region. The gunmen stormed the village of Banjska on Sunday, battling police and barricading themselves into a Serbian Orthodox monastery. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has blamed Serbia for financing and sending armed men to Kosovo. Tensions have been running high since clashes in northern Kosovo in May when more than 90 NATO peacekeeping soldiers and some 50 Serb protesters were injured in northern Kosovo.

Persons: Ognen, Albin Kurti, Aleksandar Vucic, Kurti, Josep Borrell, Fatos Bytyvi, Ivana Sekularac, Edmund Blair Organizations: REUTERS, Kosovar, Police, Reuters, Serbian, Kosovo, European Union, NATO, Thomson Locations: Kosovo, Banjska, Zvecan, restive, Serbian, Belgrade, Kosovo Albanian, Serbia, EU

☆ The West’s ‘see no evil’ approach to Serbia’s Vucic is destabilizing the Balkans
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

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

☆ Kosovo PM presents plan to defuse tensions in Serb-majority area
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Fatos Bytyci | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

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

BELGRADE, June 9 (Reuters) - Serbia's president urged Kosovo on Friday not to organise new elections for mayors in its north until more autonomy had been granted to ethnic Serbs who form a local majority and boycotted a previous vote. "All Serbs in the north think of Serbia as their country, not Kosovo. "We still don't have an association of Serb municipalities, there is still no withdrawal of (Kosovo Albanian) special police forces and mayors there," he said. Vucic said: "Serbs (in the north) are always ready to talk, but you have to offer them something." "We will keep our troops on high alert, not the highest combat alert, because that costs a lot."

Persons: Aleksandar Vucic, Vucic, Albin Kurti, Vjosa Osmani, Kurti, Ivana Sekularac, Aleksandar Vasovic, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Kosovo, Reuters, NATO, European Union, Kosovo Albanian, Union, Serbia, Belgrade, Rafale, EU, Thomson Locations: BELGRADE, Serbia, Kosovo, Belgrade, United States, Pristina, Serbian, France, Russia, China

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

Violence flared on Monday after Kosovo authorities, backed by special police units, installed ethnic Albanian mayors in offices in northern municipalities. Speaking after the meeting with Vucic, Osmani accused the Serbian leader of "whining and complaining and ... not telling the truth". But she said Kosovo could hold new elections in the north with Serb participation if they were triggered legally. Earlier in the day, neither leader had expressed any desire to meet with the other, before relenting under international pressure. Vucic said Kosovo authorities should withdraw "alleged mayors" from the north and declared the Kosovo special police units were there illegally.

Persons: Vjosa, Aleksandar Vucic, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, Vucic, Osmani, Macron, Scholz, Mimi, Vladislav Culiomza Macron, Albin Kurti, Jens Stoltenberg, Fatos Bytyci, Ivana Sekularac, Sabine Siebold, Tassilo Hummel, Daria Sito, Edmund Blair, Daniel Wallis Organizations: EU, Kosovo, NATO, Political, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: BULBOACA, Moldova, Kosovo, Serbia, France, Germany, United States, Serbian, Belgrade, Paris, Berlin, Bulboaca, Oslo

☆ North Kosovo Serbs quit state jobs in licence plate protest
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MITROVICA, Kosovo, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Minority Serbs in the north of Kosovo said on Saturday they were quitting their posts in state institutions including the government, police and courts to protest Pristina's order for them to start using Kosovo vehicle licence plates. The long-running licence plate row has stoked tensions between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo, which gained independence in 2008 and is home to a small ethnic Serb minority in the north that is backed by Belgrade. Blerim Vela, chief-of-staff to Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, accused Belgrade of seeking to destabilise Kosovo by backing Serbs in the north. "Serbia is coercing and inciting Kosovo Serbs to abandon their jobs in Kosovo institutions," Vela tweeted. Another roughly 40,000 ethnic Serbs, who live in parts of Kosovo that are majority ethnic Albanian, use licence plates issued by Pristina.

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