Josep Borrell seeks to prevent an open conflict after a series of violent clashes near the Kosovo-Serbia border.
The European Union has summoned the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo for emergency talks to try to bring an end to a series of violent clashes near their border, fearing a return to open conflict.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that he would hold “urgent meetings” with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Brussels on Thursday.
It was unclear whether the two would meet face to face or hold separate talks with Borrell.
“We need immediate de-escalation and new elections in the north with participation of Kosovo Serbs. This is paramount for the region and [the] EU,” Borrell said on Twitter before the talks.
The 27-nation bloc has for years been leading talks aimed at reconciling the two foes but with little success.
Vucic, left, and Kurti, right, met with Borrell, second left, in Brussels, in February [File: Virginia Mayo/AP]
Serbia and its former province Kosovo have been at odds for decades.
Their 1998-99 conflict left more than 10,000 people dead, mostly Kosovo Albanians. Belgrade has refused to recognise Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.
Serbia has long seen Kosovo as its spiritual and historical homeland, the scene of pivotal battles over the centuries.
It continues to host some of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s most revered monasteries.
The flare-up
Tensions flared anew last month after Kosovo police seized local municipality buildings in northern Kosovo, where Serbs represent a majority, to install ethnic Albanian mayors following a local election that Serbs overwhelmingly boycotted.
Serbia has put its troops on the border on the highest state of alert amid a series of recent clashes between Kosovo Serbs on one side and Kosovo police and NATO-led peacekeepers on the other.
A US soldier in Kosovo’s NATO peacekeeping force stands guard near a municipal office in Leposavic [File: Fatos Bytyci/Reuters]
In recent weeks, NATO has sent in reinforcements.
Tensions persisted last week with three shock grenades exploding near Kosovo police stations in the north of the country, while Kosovo Serbs staged protests in front of municipality buildings.
Borrell had been trying for several days to have Kurti and Vucic come to Brussels but they had refused until now.
Still, Vucic said he would not be talking to Kurti in Brussels.
“I have nothing to talk to him about,” he told the state broadcaster RTS.
Vucic has said there can be no negotiations until the release of Serbs who have been arrested by Kosovo police for attacks on Kosovo police and NATO-led peacekeepers.
Just four months ago, Borrell appeared to have made progress. He exited meetings with the pair to announce that Serbia and Kosovo had given their tacit approval to a EU-sponsored plan to end months of political crises and help improve their ties longer-term.
But the arrangement unravelled almost immediately as both leaders appeared to renege on commitments that Borrell suggested they had made.
Kosovo has demanded the release of three border patrol officers accusing Serbia of ‘kidnapping’.
Serbian authorities said they captured three “fully armed” Kosovo police officers inside Serbia near their mutual border, while Kosovo officials said the trio were “kidnapped” on Kosovo territory as they patrolled the area.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti blamed Serbia for abducting the men and demanded their release on Wednesday. He said they were arrested 300 metres (330 yards) inside Kosovan territory near the border.
“The entry of Serbian forces into the territory of Kosovo is aggression and aimed at escalation and destabilisation,” Kurti wrote on his Facebook page.
Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla also denounced the “kidnapping” that he said “violates any agreement and is against international norms”.
The minister called on the international community “to urgently increase pressure on Serbia not only to release our police officers but also stop its provocations”.
But Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said the three were arrested as far as 1.8km (one mile) inside Serbian territory near the village of Gnjilica. He also accused Kurti of inciting violence.
“We are at the crossroads whether we will have peace or not … and there’s one man in the Balkans who wants to incite conflicts at any cost – and that is Albin Kurti,” Vucic said in a live TV broadcast.
He rejected Kurti’s accusation that the Serbian police entered Kosovo, saying, “They did not even set a foot there.”
‘Difficult to return to normalcy’
Serbia also said the officers were armed with automatic weapons and in full military gear with GPS devices, maps and other equipment.
A video published by Serbian police showed masked men hauling off a group of men in handcuffs.
Vucic said Belgrade was willing to submit all the evidence and accept an international inquiry into the arrests.
He added his government may relocate some of its military currently stationed five kilometres (3.1 miles) away from the boundary to garrisons inside Serbia to defuse tensions. “It will be difficult to return to normalcy,” said Vucic.
Kosovo banned all vehicles with Serbia’s licence plates from entering its territory in response to the arrests, an interior ministry official told the Reuters news agency.
The detentions may further raise tensions in the predominantly Serb northern part in Kosovo, which borders Serbia and has seen spurts of violence in recent weeks.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, nearly a decade after an uprising by the 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority against Serbian rule.
Belgrade, along with its key allies China and Russia, has refused to recognise Kosovo’s independence, effectively preventing it from having a seat at the United Nations.
In 1999, a NATO bombing campaign drove Serbian security forces out of Kosovo but Belgrade has continued to regard it as a southern province.
It erupted after Serbs rallied against ethnic Albanian mayors who moved into their offices following a local vote in which turnout was just 3.5 percent. Serbs in the area boycotted the election.
At least 34 soldiers of NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo were injured during clashes with protesters in the northern part of the country Monday, according to the Italian defense ministry.
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.
The Italian defense ministry said 14 of its KFOR peacekeeping soldiers were injured when protesters threw “Molotov cocktails, with nails, firecrackers and stones inside.”
Hungarian and Moldovan soldiers were also among the injured peacekeeping troops, according to the Italian defense ministry.
“Italian and Hungarian KFOR contingent were the subject of unprovoked attacks and sustained trauma wounds with fractures and burns due to the explosion of incendiary devices,” it said, adding that KFOR medical units treated the soldiers.
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. We will not tolerate further attacks on KFOR.”
Meanwhile, Nemanja Starović, Serbian State Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, offered a different version of events than what was outlined by NATO countries. He said “many” protesters were injured in the clashes and accused KFOR of using flash grenades when the “peaceful” protesters had “decided to disperse and continue the protest tomorrow morning.”
Kosovo, which is mainly ethnically Albanian, won independence from Serbia in 2008. But Serbia still considers Kosovo to be an integral part of its territory as do the Serbs living in northern Kosovo.
The NATO-led multi-national contingents had been deployed to four municipalities in the region to contain “violent demonstrations” as “newly elected mayors in recent days tried to take office,” KFOR said in a statement.
On Friday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić put the armed forces on the highest level of combat readiness. That decision followed Kosovo police clashing with protesters who tried to block a newly elected ethnic Albanian mayor from entering their office.
On Monday, barbed wire had been put around a municipal administration building in the municipality of Leposavić, with KFOR troops reported to be wearing anti-riot gear, CNN affiliate N1 reported. It added that Kosovo police special units erected a fence near the municipal administration building in the town of Zvecan.
Kosovo police say protesters had shown violence on Monday as they gathered in the municipalities of “Leposaviq, Zubin Potok and Zveqan.” Police added that in front of a facility in Zvecan, protesters had thrown tear gas and “tried to cross the security cordons to enter into the municipality facility by force.”
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić described KFOR’s increased presence in northern Kosovo on Monday as “belated” and said “the task of this international mission was to protect the interests and peace of the people in Kosovo and Metohija, not the usurpers.”
Brnabić said the situation in Kosovo and Metohija is “tense and difficult” and said, “It has never been more difficult.” Brnabić also expressed her “gratitude to Serbs in the province for remaining calm and refraining from violence.”
Meanwhile, the United States ambassador to Kosovo, Jeff Hovenier, condemned “violent actions” by protesters, citing the use of explosives.
The European Union Ambassador to Kosovo, Tomáš Szunyog, also condemned actions by protesters, citing damage to media vehicles.
Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, also spoke about the situation on Monday, describing it as a “large eruption is brewing up in the center of Europe.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong title for Nemanja Starović. He is the state secretary in Serbia’s Ministry of Defence.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has called on Pristina to de-escalate tensions after placing army on high alert.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has called on Kosovo to tone down tensions with Serbia, two days after clashes between Kosovan police and protesters who are opposed to Albanian mayors taking office in ethnic Serbian areas.
“Pristina must de-escalate & not take unilateral, destabilising steps,” Stoltenberg said in a tweet on Sunday.
The transatlantic military alliance’s secretary-general said he had spoken to European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell about Kosovo. He added that Pristina and Belgrade must engage in the EU-led dialogue.
Serbs, who form the majority of the population in Kosovo’s northern region, do not accept its 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia and still see Belgrade as their capital more than two decades after the war ended in 1999.
They refused to take part in local elections in April, and Albanian candidates won all four municipalities with a 3.5 percent turnout. Backed by Belgrade, they said they would not accept the mayors and that they do not represent them.
On Friday, small groups of ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo clashed with police while trying to block the entrance of municipal buildings to prevent the recently elected officials from entering.
Police fired tear gas and several cars were set ablaze. Three out of four mayors were escorted into their offices by police, who were pelted with rocks and responded with tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters.
In the wake of the latest unrest, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic ordered the army to be placed on high alert and “start moving” towards the border with Kosovo.
On Saturday morning, Vucic chaired a meeting of the National Security Council, which adopted a plan of “security activities … aimed at strengthening Serbia’s defence capabilities”, the Serbian president’s office said in a statement.
The presidency added that “Serbia’s armed forces remain in a state of maximum alert until further notice”.
A joint statement from the embassies of the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany, known as the Quint group, and the EU office in Pristina warned Kosovo against any other measures to force access to the municipality buildings.
“We strongly caution all parties against other threats or actions which could impact on a safe and secure environment, including freedom of movement, and that could inflame tensions or promote conflict,” Quint and the EU said.
“New unilateral actions will negatively impact relations with the Quint countries and the EU.”
The US, UK and EU are Kosovo’s main backers as the country is still not a United Nations member due to objections from Serbia, Russia, China and others.
NATO on Tuesday deployed additional forces to Kosovo, a day after peacekeeping troops were injured in clashes with Serb protesters in the country.
11 Italian and 19 Hungarian soldiers belonging to Kosovo Force (KFOR), a NATO-led peacekeeping mission, were wounded in northern Kosovo while working to contain violent demonstrations. Three of the Hungarian soldiers were injured by the use of firearms, according to KFOR.
NATO condemned the attacks and called “on all sides to refrain from actions that further inflame tensions, and to engage in dialogue.”
In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, Allied Joint Force Command Naples said NATO is sending the Operational Reserve Forces (ORF) for the Western Balkans to Kosovo.
“JFC Naples is closely monitoring the situation in Kosovo, and will continue to coordinate with KFOR to ensure that they have all the capabilities and forces they need to impartially ensure a safe and secure environment and the freedom of movement for all communities,” it said, noting that additional reserve forces have been ordered to boost readiness to reinforce KFOR if needed.
Admiral Stuart B. Munsch, commander of Allied Joint Force Command Naples, said in a statement that “the deployment of additional NATO forces to Kosovo is a prudent measure to ensure that KFOR has the capabilities it needs to maintain security in accordance with our U.N. Security Council Mandate.”
“I want to commend KFOR for taking swift, restrained, and professional action to intervene to stop the unrest and to save lives,” he said, adding: “The violence must stop, and all sides must stop taking actions to undermine the peace in any and all communities of Kosovo.”
Tensions are running high in the region. On Friday, the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, and the U.K. issued a joint statement condemning Kosovo’s decision to force access to municipal buildings in northern Kosovo. The five countries also said they are “concerned by Serbia’s decision to raise the level of readiness of its Armed Forces at the border with Kosovo and call all parties for maximum restraint, avoiding inflammatory rhetoric.”
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A gunman apparently firing at random killed eight people and wounded 14 in a series of villages in Serbia, authorities said, shaking a nation still in the throes of grief over a mass shooting a day earlier. Police arrested a suspect Friday after an all-night manhunt.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called Thursday’s shootings an attack on the whole nation — and said the person arrested wore a T-shirt with a pro-Nazi slogan on it but did not specify a motive.
The bloodshed sent shockwaves through a Balkan nation scarred by wars, but unused to mass murders. Though Serbia is awash with weapons left over from the conflicts of the 1990s, Wednesday’s shooting was the first at a school in the country’s modern history.
The last mass shooting before this week was in 2013, when a war veteran killed 13 people in a central Serbian village.
Public figures, politicians and experts appeared successively on TV Friday, desperately seeking to explain the tragedies. The first made the country numb with grief, while the second heightened feelings of insecurity and anxiety over what might come next. As a nationwide period of mourning began, TV screens were filled with people wearing black and music was banned from the airwaves as well as in cafes and restaurants.
“This is a moment when a nation decides whether it will go along a healing path,” Actor Srdjan Timarov said on N1 television. “The only other way is to declare capitulation.”
Late Thursday, an attacker shot at people in three villages near Mladenovac, some 50 kilometers, or 30 miles, south of the capital. Vučić said the assailant targeted people “wherever they were.”
“I heard some tak-tak-tak sounds,” recalled Milan Prokić, a resident of Dubona, near Mladenovac. Prokić said he first thought people were shooting to celebrate a birth, as is tradition in Serbia. “But it wasn’t that. Shame, great shame,” he added.
Forensic police inspect a shooting scene in the village of Dubona, Serbia, some 50 kilometers south of Belgrade, on Friday.
AP/Armin Durgut
Police said a suspect, identified by the initials U.B., was arrested near the central Serbian town of Kragujevac, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Belgrade.
Authorities released a photo showing a young man in a police car in a blue T-shirt with the slogan “Generation 88” on it. The double eights are often used as shorthand for “Heil Hitler” since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.
Vučić said the suspect repeated the word “disparagement” but it wasn’t clear what that meant.
The president vowed to the nation in an address that the suspect “will never again see the light of the day.” He referred to the attack as an act of terror and announced tougher gun-control measures, on top of ones put forward by the government a day earlier.
He called for a moratorium on new licenses for all weapons in the next two years, a review of all current licenses, longer prison sentences for those who break the rules and “fierce” punishment for anyone with illegal weapons. But first police will offer an amnesty to encourage people to hand over illegal guns — an action that has had limited success in the past.
“We will disarm Serbia,” Vučić promised, saying the government would outline the new rules on Friday.
Before the second shooting, Serbia spent much of Thursday reeling. Students, many wearing black and carrying flowers, filled streets around the school in central Belgrade as they paid silent homage to slain peers. Serbian teachers’ unions announced protests and strikes to warn about a crisis in the school system and demand changes.
Wednesday’s shooting at the Vladislav Ribnikar school also left seven people hospitalized, six children and a teacher. One girl who was shot in the head remains in life-threatening condition, and a boy is in serious condition with spinal injuries, doctors said Thursday.
Authorities have identified the shooter as Kosta Kecmanović and said he is too young to be charged and tried. He has been placed in a mental hospital, and his father has been detained on suspicion of endangering public security.
Gun ownership is common in Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans: The country has one of the highest number of firearms per capita in the world. And guns are often fired into the air at celebrations in the region.
Experts have repeatedly warned of the danger posed by the number of weapons in Serbia, a highly divided country where convicted war criminals are frequently glorified and violence against minority groups often goes unpunished. They also note that decades of instability stemming from the conflicts of the 1990s, as well as ongoing economic hardship, could trigger such outbursts.
Dragan Popadić, a psychology professor at Belgrade University, told the Associated Press that the school shooting has exposed the level of violence present in society and caused a deep shock.
“People suddenly have been shaken into reality and the ocean of violence that we live in, how it has grown over time and how much our society has been neglected for decades,” he warned. “It is as if flashlights have been lit over our lives and we can no longer just mind our own business.”
At least eight people have been killed and 13 wounded in a shooting in the Serbian village of Dubona, the country’s Interior Ministry spokesperson told CNN.
The shooter remains at large, and a warrant has been issued for a 21-year-old male suspect, identified as Uros B. by Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic.
The police have cordoned off the area where they suspected him to be hiding, according CNN affiliate channel N1.
The incident happened on Thursday night at 11 p.m. local time, Serbia’s Interior Ministry spokesperson said. The attacker shot a group of people with an automatic weapon and fled the scene, according to the public broadcaster RTS, prompting police to launch a manhunt.
The Interior Ministry confirmed to CNN that they are treating this incident as an act of domestic terrorism, but did not specify more details.
All special police units are engaged, including an anti-terrorism unit, helicopter unit, and police forces from the cities of Belgrade and Smederevo.
The Ministry also shared photos with CNN that shows the Serbian special forces actively searching for the suspect, and Interior Minister Gasic at the scene.
Ambulances and relatives of the injured are arriving at the Emergency Center in Mladenovac, N1 reported.
“The perpetrator is on the run, and all available patrols have been sent in the direction of Mladenovac and Mali Požarevac,” it added.
Until this week, mass shootings were rare in Serbia, despite the country’s high rate of gun ownership. Serbia has the highest level of civilian gun ownership in Europe, and the fifth-highest in the world – a legacy of years of conflict in the 1990s.
A shooter killed at least eight people and wounded 13 in a drive-by shooting in a town close to Belgrade late Thursday, the second such mass killing in Serbia in two days, state television reported.
The attacker used an automatic weapon to shoot randomly at people near the town of Mladenovac, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital, the RTS report said early Friday. Police were looking for the 21-year-old suspect, who fled after the attack, the report said.
Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic called the shooting “a terrorist act,” the report said.
Special police and helicopter units have been sent to the region as well as ambulances, it added. No other details were immediately available, and police had not issued any statements.
On Wednesday in Belgrade, a 13-year-old boy used his father’s guns in a school shooting rampage that killed eight of his schoolmates and a school guard. The bloodshed sent shockwaves through the Balkan nation unused to such mass murders.
Dozens of Serbian students, many wearing black and carrying flowers, paid silent homage Thursday to peers killed a day earlier.
People gather to lay flowers at a makeshift shrine to commemorate victims in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, May 4, 2023. A 13-year-old opened fire Wednesday at his school in Serbia’s capital, killing eight fellow students and a guard before calling the police and being arrested. Six children and a teacher were also hospitalized.
Marko Drobnjakovic / AP
The students filled the streets around the school in central Belgrade as they streamed in from all over the city. Earlier, thousands had lined up to lay flowers, light candles and leave toys to commemorate the eight children and a school guard who were killed on Wednesday morning.
People cried and hugged outside the school as they stood in front of heaps of flowers, small teddy bears and soccer balls. A gray and pink toy elephant was placed by the school fence along with messages of grief, and a girl’s ballet shoes hung from the fence.
The Balkan nation is struggling to come to terms with what has happened. Though awash with weapons left over from the wars of the 1990s, mass shootings still have been extremely rare — and this is the first school shooting in Serbia’s modern history.
The tragedy also sparked a debate about the general state of the nation following decades of crises and conflicts whose aftermath has created a state of permanent insecurity and instability, along with deep political divisions.
Authorities on Thursday moved to boost gun control, as police urged citizens to lock up their guns and keep them safe, away from children.
Police have said that the teen used his father’s guns to carry out the attack. He had planned it for a month, drew sketches of classrooms and made lists of the children he planned to kill, police said on Wednesday.
The boy, who had visited shooting ranges with his father and apparently had the code to his father’s safe, took two guns from the safe where they were stored together with the bullets, police said on Wednesday.
“The Ministry of Interior is appealing to all gun owners to store their guns with care, locked up in safes or closets so they are out of reach of others, particularly children,” police said in a statement that also announced tightened controls on gun owners in the future.
The shooting on Wednesday morning in Vladislav Ribnikar primary school also left seven people hospitalized — six children and a teacher. One girl who was shot in the head remains in a life-threatening condition, and a boy is in serious condition with spinal injuries, doctors said on Thursday morning.
To help people deal with the tragedy, authorities announced they were setting up a helpline. Hundreds answered a call to donate blood for the wounded victims. A three-day mourning period will begin Friday morning.
Serbian teachers’ unions announced protests and strikes to demand changes and warn about a crisis in the school system. Authorities shrugged off responsibility, with some officials blaming Western influence rather than a deep social crisis in the country.
The shooter, whom the police identified as Kosta Kecmanovic, has not given any motive for his actions.
Upon entering his school, Kecmanovic first killed the guard and three students in the hallway. He then went to the history classroom where he shot the teacher before turning his gun on the students.
Kecmanovic then unloaded the gun in the schoolyard and called the police himself, although they had already received an alert from a school official. When he called, Kecmanovic told duty officers he was a “psychopath who needs to calm down,” police said.
Those killed were seven girls, one boy and the school security guard. One of the girls was a French citizen, France’s foreign ministry said.
Authorities have said that Kecmanovic is too young to be charged and tried. He has been placed in a mental institution while his father has been detained on suspicion of endangering public security because his son got hold of the guns.
“I think we are all guilty. I think each one of us has some responsibility, that we allowed some things we should not allow (to happen),” said Zoran Sefik, a Belgrade resident, during Wednesday evening’s vigil near the school.
Jovan Lazovic, another Belgrade resident, said he was not surprised: “It was a matter of days when something like this could happen, having in mind what happening in the world and here,” he said.
Gun culture is widespread in Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans: The region is among the top in Europe in the number of guns per capita. Guns are often fired into the air at celebrations and the cult of the warrior is part of national identity. Still, the last mass shooting was in 2013 when a war veteran killed 13 people in a central Serbian village.
Experts have repeatedly warned of the danger posed by the number of weapons in a highly divided country like Serbia, where convicted war criminals are glorified and violence against minority groups often goes unpunished. They also note that decades of instability stemming from the conflicts of the 1990s as well as ongoing economic hardship could trigger such outbursts.
“We have had too much violence for too long,” psychologist Zarko Trebjesanin told N1 television. “Children copy models. We need to eliminate negative models … and create a different system of values.”
Belgrade, Serbia — A 13-year-old who opened fire Wednesday at his school in Serbia’s capital drew sketches of classrooms and wrote a list of people he intended to target in a meticulously planned attack, police said. He killed eight fellow students and a school guard before being arrested.
The shooter first killed a guard at the school in central Belgrade and then three students in a hallway, according to senior police official Veselin Milic. He then entered a history classroom — apparently choosing it simply because it was close to the entrance — and opened fire again, Milic said.
The assailant called police himself when the attack was over, though authorities received a call reporting the shooting two minutes earlier.
Police block streets around the Vladislav Ribnikar school in Belgrade, Serbia, May 3, 2023, after a teenage boy allegedly opened fire in the school.
Darko Vojinovic/AP
The suspect was a seventh grade student at the school, police said. The statement added that the boy apparently used a gun belonging to his father.
Reports said terrified parents arrived to the school trying to find their children. Local media video from the scene showed commotion outside the school as police removed the suspect, whose head was covered as officers led him to a car parked in the street.
Mass shootings in Serbia and in the wider Balkan region are extremely rare and none has been reported in schools in recent years.
Police block streets around the Vladislav Ribnikar school in Belgrade, Serbia, May 3, 2023.
Darko Vojinovic/AP
By comparison, almost 250 people have been killed in mass shootings in the U.S. already this year, including 12 in the last week of April. Recent research found that fatalities from gun violence in the U.S. have increased over time, with more victims dying at the scene of shootings before they can be transferred for medical treatment.
In the last mass shooting in Serbia, a Balkan war veteran killed 13 people in 2013 in a central Serbian village.
Experts have repeatedly warned of the number of weapons left over in the country after the wars of the 1990s. They also note that decades-long instability stemming from the conflicts as well as the ongoing economic hardship could trigger such outbursts.
Milan Milosevic, who said his daughter was in a history class when the shooting took place, told N1 television that he rushed out when he heard what had happened.
“I asked, ‘where is my child,’ but no one could tell me anything at first,” he said. “Then she called, and we found out she was out.”
“He (the shooter) fired first at the teacher and then the children who ducked under the desks,” Milosevic quoted his daughter as saying. “She said he was a quiet boy and a good student.”
Police sealed off the blocks around the Vladislav Ribnikar school, in the center of Belgrade. Primary schools in Serbia have eight grades.
Djokovic can play after missing out on the US Open last year and being denied entry into the country earlier this year.
Men’s tennis world number one Novak Djokovic will be able to compete at the US Open this year after the United States government announced plans to end its COVID-19 vaccination requirements for international travellers on May 11.
The White House said on Monday that the requirements will end when the coronavirus public health emergency ends next week.
Djokovic, one of the most high-profile athletes not vaccinated against COVID-19, missed the US Open in 2022 due to his vaccine status.
The 35-year-old Serb was unable to enter the country this year after unsuccessfully applying to the US government for special permission to play at the Masters tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
Djokovic missed last year’s Australian Open and was deported from the country due to his vaccine status and has said he would skip grand slams rather than have a COVID shot.
However, with ease of restrictions by the Australian government later in 2022, the Serb took part in and won the 2023 edition of the tournament in Melbourne to equal Rafael Nadal’s record of 22 men’s grand slam titles.
While Djokovic has refused to explicitly say whether he received any shots to protect against the coronavirus, he would not have needed an exemption to enter Australia in 2022 if he were fully vaccinated.
In April 2020, he issued a statement saying: “Personally I am opposed to the vaccination against COVID-19 in order to be able to travel. But if it becomes compulsory, I will have to make a decision whether to do it or not.”
Months later, he and his wife tested positive for the illness caused by the coronavirus after a series of exhibition matches he organised without social distancing or masking.
In January 2022, Djokovic knew he had tested positive for COVID-19 when he attended a newspaper interview and photoshoot at his tennis centre in Serbia, admitting he made an “error of judgement” and should have immediately gone into isolation.
Djokovic has won three of his 22 major titles at the US Open.
This year’s tournament will be held from August 28 to September 10.
Russia wants to stage a coup d’état in Moldova, the country’s President Maia Sandu said Monday.
Sandu called for heightened security measures in Moldova after the pro-EU government resigned last week, following months of pressure from Moscow which is waging an all-out war on neighboring Ukraine.
“The plan included sabotage and militarily trained people disguised as civilians to carry out violent actions, attacks on government buildings and taking hostages,” Sandu told reporters at a press conference Monday.
She added that citizens of Russia, Montenegro, Belarus and Serbia would be among those entering Moldova to try to spark protests in an attempt to “change the legitimate government to an illegitimate government, controlled by the Russian Federation to stop the EU integration process.”
Moldova was granted candidate status to the European Union last June, together with Ukraine.
Sandu’s remarks come after she nominated a new prime minister on Friday to keep her country on a pro-EU trajectory after the previous government fell earlier in the day.
“Reports received from our Ukrainian partners indicate the locations and logistical aspects of organizing this subversive activity. The plan also envisages the use of foreigners for violent actions,” she said, adding that earlier statements from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about Russia’s plans to stoke unrest have been confirmed by Moldova’s authorities.
Zelenskyy told EU leaders during Thursday’s European Council summit in Brussels that Ukraine had intercepted Russian plans to “destroy” Moldova, which Moldovan intelligence services later confirmed.
The Moldovan government has long accused Russia, which bases soldiers in the breakaway region of Transnistria in the east, of stirring unrest in the country, including protests in the capital, Chișinău.
Sandu on Monday asked Moldova’s parliament to adopt draft laws to equip its Intelligence and Security Service, and the prosecutor’s office, “with the necessary tools to combat more effectively the risks” to the country’s security. “The most aggressive form of attack is an informational attack,” she said, urging citizens to only trust information they receive from the authorities.
“The Kremlin’s attempts to bring violence to Moldova will not work. Our main goal is the security of citizens and the state,” Sandu said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has a tight two-year timetable for securing EU membership that is bound to dominate discussions at this week’s historic EU-Ukraine summit, the first to take place on Ukrainian soil.
The problem? No one within the EU thinks this is realistic.
When EU commissioners travel to Kyiv later this week ahead of Friday’s summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the heads of the European Commission and Council, their main task is likely to involve managing expectations.
Shmyhal himself is imposing a tough deadline. “We have a very ambitious plan to join the European Union within the next two years,” he told POLITICO. “So we expect that this year, in 2023, we can already have this pre-entry stage of negotiations,” he said.
This throws down a gauntlet to the EU establishment, which is trying to keep Ukrainian membership as a far more remote concept.
French President Emmanuel Macron said last year it could be “decades” before Ukraine joins. Even EU leaders, who backed granting Ukraine candidate status at their summit last June, privately admit that the prospect of the country actually joining is quite some years away (and may be one reason they backed the idea in the first place.) After all, candidate countries like Serbia, Turkey and Montenegro have been waiting for many years, since 1999 in Ankara’s case.
Ukraine is a conundrum for the EU. Many argue that Brussels has a particular responsibility to Kyiv. It was, after all, Ukrainians’ fury at the decision of President Viktor Yanukovych to pull out of a political and economic association agreement with the EU at Russia’s behest that triggered the Maidan uprising of 2014 and set the stage for war. As European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put it: Ukraine is “the only country where people got shot because they wrapped themselves in a European flag.”
Ukraine’s close allies in the EU such as Poland and the Baltic countries strongly support Kyiv’s membership push, seeing it as a democracy resisting an aggressor. Many of the EU old guard are far more wary, however, as Ukraine — a global agricultural superpower — could dilute their own powers and perks. Ukraine and Poland — with a combined population of 80 million — could team up to rival Germany as a political force in the European Council and some argue Kyiv would be an excessive drain on the EU budget.
Short-term deliverables
Friday’s summit in Kyiv — the first EU meeting of its kind to take place in an active war zone — will be about striking the right balance.
Though EU national leaders will not be in attendance, European Council officials have been busy liaising with EU member states about the final communiqué.
Some countries are insisting the statement should not stray far from the language used at the June European Council — emphasizing that while the future of Ukraine lies within the European Union, aspirant countries need to meet specific criteria. “Expectation is quite high in Kyiv, but there is a need to fulfill all the conditions that the Commission has set out. It’s a merit-based process,” said one senior EU official.
Ukraine is a conundrum for the EU. Many argue that Brussels has a particular responsibility to Kyiv | Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images
Still, progress is expected when Zelenskyy meets with von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel.
Shmyhal told POLITICO he hopes Ukraine can achieve a “substantial leap forward” on Friday, particularly in specific areas — an agreement on a visa-free regime for industrial goods; the suspension of customs duties on Ukrainian exports for another year; and “active progress” on joining the SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) payments scheme and the inclusion of Ukraine into the EU’s mobile roaming area.
“We expect progress and acceleration on our path towards signing these agreements,” he said.
Anti-corruption campaign
The hot topic — and one of the central question marks over Ukraine’s EU accession — will be Ukraine’s struggle against corruption. The deputy infrastructure minister was fired and deputy foreign minister stepped down this month over scandals related to war profiteering in public contracts.
“We need a reformed Ukraine,” said one senior EU official centrally involved in preparations for the summit. “We cannot have the same Ukraine as before the war.”
Shmyhal insisted that the Zelenskyy government is taking corruption seriously. “We have a zero-tolerance approach to corruption,” he said, pointing to the “lightning speed” with which officials were removed this month. “Unfortunately, corruption was not born yesterday, but we are certain that we will uproot corruption,” he said, openly saying that it’s key to the country’s EU accession path.
He also said the government was poised to revise its recent legislation on the country’s Constitutional Court to meet the demands of both the European Commission and the Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe. Changes could come as early as this week, ahead of the summit, Shmyhal said.
Though Ukraine has announced a reform of the Constitutional Court, particularly on how judges are appointed, the Venice Commission still has concerns about the powers and composition of the advisory group of experts, the body which selects candidates for the court. The goal is to avoid political interference.
Shmyhal said these questions will be addressed. “We are holding consultations with the European Commission to see that all issued conclusions may be incorporated into the text,” he told POLITICO.
Nonetheless, the symbolic power of this week’s summit is expected to send a strong message to Moscow about Ukraine’s European aspirations.
European Council President Michel used his surprise visit to Kyiv this month to reassure Ukraine that EU membership will be a reality for Ukraine, telling the Ukrainian Rada (parliament) that he dreams that one day a Ukrainian will hold his job as president of the European Council.
“Ukraine is the EU and the EU is Ukraine,” he said. “We must spare no effort to turn this promise into reality as fast as we can.”
The key question for Ukrainians after Friday’s meeting will be how fast the rhetoric and promises can become a reality.
Djokovic defeated Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) to claim his 22nd Grand Slam title to equal Rafael Nadal’s all-time record.
Novak Djokovic has won his 10th Australian Open championship and record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam title overall by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final at Rod Laver Arena.
The Serbian star dropped just one set all tournament, despite saying he feared a left hamstring problem might force him to withdraw, and finished with a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) victory over first-time Australian Open finalist Tsitsipas on Sunday.
As a result of winning the first Grand Slam of the year, Djokovic also reclaimed the world number-one ranking from Carlos Alcaraz.
The 35-year-old did not compete in the Australian Open a year ago after being deported from the country because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Djokovic extended his winning streak at the tournament to 28 matches [Loren Elliott/Reuters]
Government restrictions have eased since, and he was able to get a visa this time despite still not having gotten vaccinated against COVID.
“I have to say this has been the most challenging tournament I have played in my life … not playing last year, coming back this year,” Djokovic said after the match. “Only the team and the family knows what we have been through in the last four or five weeks.”
Now Djokovic has extended his winning streak at the hard-court tournament to 28 matches.
His 10th trophy in Australia adds to the record he already held. His 22 major championships – which include seven from Wimbledon, three from the US Open and two from the French Open – are tied with Rafael Nadal for the most by a man in the history of tennis.
With sizeable Greek and Serbian communities in Melbourne, and Rod Laver in attendance, there was a raucous atmosphere.
Djokovic came into the match with his confidence high having won all nine of his previous Australian Open finals and with a 10-2 career advantage over the Greek.
He was superior throughout against Tsitsipas, but especially so in the two tiebreakers.
Djokovic took a 4-1 lead in the first and after it was 4-all, pulled off the last three points. He led 5-0 in the closing tiebreaker and, when it finished, he pointed to his temple then climbed into the stands, pumped his fist and jumped with his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, and other members of the entourage, before collapsing, crying.
Djokovic returned to the court, sat on his sideline bench, buried his face in a white towel and let some more tears flow.
Margaret Court, with 24, Serena Williams, with 23, and Steffi Graf, with 22, have the most championships among women.
This was also the 93rd ATP tour-level title for Djokovic, allowing him to break a tie with Nadal for the fourth most. Jimmy Connors holds that mark, at 109.
Djokovic was participating in his 33rd major final, Tsitsipas in his second – the 24-year-old’s other one also ended in a loss to Djokovic, at the 2021 French Open.
Serb protesters have agreed to start removing barricades and end their blockade of roads in northern Kosovo, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said.
Vucic, who met Serbs from northern Kosovo in the Serbian town of Raska, said the process of removing the barricades, which have blocked roads for 19 days, will begin on Thursday morning.
“The removal of barricades will begin,” Vucic said late on Wednesday.
“This is not a simple process, and can’t be done in two hours, as some imagined. But within 24 to 48 hours the barricades will be removed. But distrust is not removed,” he said.
“Those who are playing with [the] very existence of Serbs in Kosovo must know that, same like we didn’t allow it now, we will not allow it in the future as well.”
The European Union and the United States, who are mediating talks between Belgrade and Pristina to resolve the tense dispute, have guaranteed that none of the Serbs who set up barricades will be prosecuted, he added.
The EU and US said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they welcomed “the assurances of the leadership of Kosovo confirming that no lists of Kosovo Serb citizens to be arrested or prosecuted for peaceful protests/barricades exist”.
“At the same time, rule of law must be respected, and any form of violence is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” the statement added.
🇪🇺and 🇺🇸 call for maximum restraint and immediate de-escalation in north Kosovo. We are working with Ptd Vučić and PM Kurti to find a political solution in the interest of stability, safety and well-being of all local communities. Full statement 👉 https://t.co/SiknNws9HZ
Serbian state media reported that Vucic had travelled to the border with Kosovo for talks with Kosovo Serbs to try to persuade them to end their blockade.
“Just think again… what do we get if barricades remain? I can tell you 500 things we can get if they are removed,” Vucic said during the meeting, state-controlled public broadcaster RTS reported.
Serbia had put its army on its highest alert on Monday as the situation in northern Kosovo appeared to be spiralling out of control with Kosovo on Wednesday closing its largest border crossing to Serbian territory.
On Tuesday night, dozens of demonstrators on the Serbian side of the border used trucks and tractors to halt traffic leading to Merdare, the biggest crossing between the neighbours. The move forced Kosovo police to close the entry point on Wednesday.
“Such an illegal blockade has prevented the free movement and circulation of people and goods, therefore we invite our citizens and compatriots to use other border points for circulation,” a Kosovo police statement said.
Pristina had asked NATO-led peacekeepers to clear the barricades erected on Kosovo soil, adding that its own forces were also capable of removing the protesters.
The EU and US had voiced concern over the situation and urged for an immediate de-escalation, saying they were working with Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti to seek a political solution to one of the worst flare-ups in years between the Balkan neighbours.
“We call on everyone to exercise maximum restraint, to take immediate action to unconditionally de-escalate the situation, and to refrain from provocations, threats, or intimidation,” they said in their joint statement.
Earlier on Wednesday, a former Kosovo Serb policeman, whose arrest on December 10 had triggered violent protests by Kosovo’s Serb minority – including road blockades – was released from custody and put under house arrest after a request from the prosecutor’s office, a spokesperson for the Pristina Basic Court told Reuters.
Dejan Pantic was arrested for assaulting a serving police officer. The court decision angered Kosovo government officials, including Prime Minister Kurti and justice minister Albulena Haxhiu.
“I am very curious to see who is the prosecutor who makes this request, who is the judge of preliminary procedure that approves it,” Kurti said.
For more than 20 years, Kosovo has been a source of tension between the West, which backed its independence from Serbia in 2008, and Russia, which does not recognise Pristina and has supported Serbia in its efforts to block Kosovo’s membership of global organisations including the United Nations.
The Kremlin, however, denied the Kosovo interior minister’s claims this week that Russia was influencing Serbia’s handling of the ethnic tension to destabilise Kosovo, saying Serbia was defending the rights of ethnic Serbs.
The estimated 50,000 Serbs living in the north of Kosovo, which they believe is still part of Serbia, resist any moves they see as anti-Serb and refuse to recognise the government in Pristina or the status of Kosovo as a separate country. They have the support of many Serbs in Serbia and its government.
Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, with the backing of the West, following a 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened against Serbian forces to protect ethnic Albanian citizens.
Protesting Serbs in the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo erected new barricades on Tuesday, hours after Serbia said it had put its army on the highest combat alert following weeks of escalating tensions between Belgrade and Pristina.
Serbia’s defense ministry said that given the latest events in the region and Belgrade’s belief that Kosovo was preparing to attack Serbs and forcefully remove the barricades, President Aleksandar Vucic had ordered Serbia’s army and police to be put on the highest alert.
Kosovo’s government called on NATO peacekeepers to remove the barricades, but said it had the capacity and readiness to act.
Kosovo and Serbia intend to join the European Union and have agreed, as part of that membership process, to resolve their outstanding issues and build good neighborly relations.
Here are some facts about the standoff:
Kosovo won independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after a guerrilla uprising against Belgrade’s repressive rule.
Serbia, however, still considers Kosovo to be an integral part of its territory and rejects suggestions it is whipping up tensions and conflict within its neighbor’s borders. Belgrade accuses Pristina of trampling on the rights of minority Serbs.
Ethnic Serbs, who do not recognise the Pristina government or Kosovan state institutions, account for 5% of Kosovo’s 1.8 million people, with ethnic Albanians making up about 90%. The Serbs have vented their hostility by refusing to pay Kosovo’s power operator for the electricity they use, for example, and frequently attacking police who try to make arrests.
Fresh ethnic tensions have erupted since December 10 when Serbs erected multiple roadblocks and exchanged fire with police after the arrest of a former Serb policeman for allegedly assaulting serving police officers during a previous protest.
The stand-off comes after months of trouble over the issue of car license plates. Kosovo has for years wanted the approximately 50,000 Serbs in the north to switch their Serbian car license plates to ones issued by Pristina, as part of the government’s desire to assert authority over its territory.
On July 31, Pristina announced a two-month window for the plates to be switched over, triggering protests, but it later agreed to push the implementation date back to next year.
Ethnic Serb mayors in northern municipalities, along with local judges and some 600 police officers, resigned in November in protest at the looming switch.
Serbs in Kosovo want to create an association of majority-Serb municipalities that would operate with greater autonomy. Serbia and Kosovo have made little progress on this and other issues since committing in 2013 to the EU-sponsored dialogue.
NATO has about 3,700 troops stationed in Kosovo to maintain the peace. The alliance said it would intervene in line with its mandate if stability in the area were jeopardized. The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), which arrived in 2008, still has around 200 special police officers there.
Pristina closure of the Merdare crossing on Kosovo’s eastern border comes as tensions with its Balkans neighbour spiral.
Kosovo has closed its biggest border crossing after protesters blocked it on the Serbian side to support their ethnic kin in Kosovo in refusing to recognise the country’s independence.
Wednesday’s move has left only three entry points between the two countries open, with two other crossings on the Serbian border closed by similar protests on their Kosovar sides since December 10.
The latest protest came hours after Serbia said it had put its army on the highest possible level of alert following weeks of escalating tensions between Belgrade and Pristina.
Serbs in Serbia used a truck and tractors on Tuesday to create the latest roadblock, close to the Merdare crossing on Kosovo’s eastern border, Belgrade-based media reported.
The obstruction is preventing thousands of Kosovars who work elsewhere in Europe from returning home for holidays.
About 50,000 Serbs living in ethnically divided northern Kosovo refuse to recognise the government in Pristina or the status of Kosovo as a country separate from Serbia. They have the support of many Serbs in Serbia and its government.
The closure in effect
“If you have already entered Serbia then you have to use other border crossings … or go through North Macedonia,” Kosovo’s foreign ministry said on its Facebook page, announcing the closure of the Merdare crossing.
The closure took effect at midnight, though the crossing was apparently already unusable.
The Merdare entry point is Kosovo’s most important for road freight. The country has international rail links.
A man crosses a street near a roadblock in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo [Miodrag Draskic/Reuters]
Since December 10, Serbs in northern Kosovo have exchanged fire with police and erected more than 10 roadblocks in and around Mitrovica.
Their action followed the arrest of a former Serb policeman for allegedly assaulting serving police officers.
On Tuesday, two more roadblocks were erected in the north.
Russian influence
Kosovo’s interior minister has accused Serbia, under the influence of Russia, of attempting to destabilise his country via the protests.
Serbia denies it is trying to destabilise its neighbour and says it only wants to protect the Serbian minority living in what is now Kosovan territory but is not recognised by Belgrade.
Moscow said on Wednesday that it supported Serbia’s attempts to protect ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo but denied Pristina’s accusation that Russia was somehow stoking tensions in an attempt to sow chaos across the Balkans.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “wrong” to search for a destructive Russian influence.
“Serbia is a sovereign country, and naturally, it protects the rights of Serbs who live nearby in such difficult conditions, and naturally reacts harshly when these rights are violated,” Peskov said.
“Having very close allied relations, historical and spiritual relations with Serbia, Russia is very closely monitoring what is happening, how the rights of Serbs are respected and ensured,” he added. “And, of course, we support Belgrade in the actions that are being taken.”
Decades of turmoil
Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with the backing of the West, following a 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect ethnic Albanian citizens.
Kosovo’s government has asked NATO’s peacekeeping force for the country, the approximately 4,000-strong KFOR, to clear the barricades. But KFOR has no authority to act on Serbian soil.
Kosovo’s declaration of independence came 10 years after a war between ethnic Albanian fighters and Serbian forces that killed 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians.
Serbia, supported by its allies Russia and China, does not recognise the statehood of its former province but most Western countries do, including the United States.
MITROVICA, Kosovo — Serbs on Tuesday erected more roadblocks in northern Kosovo and defied international demands to remove those placed earlier, a day after Serbia put its troops near the border on a high level of combat readiness.
The new barriers, made of heavily loaded trucks, were put up overnight in Mitrovica, a northern Kosovo town divided between Kosovo Serbs and ethnic Albanians, who represent the majority in Kosovo as a whole.
It was the first time since the recent crisis started that Serbs have blocked streets in one of the main towns. Until now, barricades had been set on roads leading to the Kosovo-Serbia border.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said he ordered the army’s highest state of alert to “protect our people (in Kosovo) and preserve Serbia.”
He claimed that Pristina is preparing to “attack” Kosovo Serbs in the north of the country and remove by force several of the roadblocks that Serbs started putting up 18 days ago to protest the arrest of a former Kosovo Serb police officer.
On Tuesday, Vucic addressed reporters together with Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, who was barred by Kosovo authorities on Monday from entering Kosovo and visiting a medieval Serb church there before Serbian Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated on Jan. 7.
In his usual manner, Vucic blasted the West and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian authorities of plotting together to “trigger unrest and kill the Serbs” who are manning the barricades.
“Their aim is to expel Serbia out of Kosovo … with the help of their agents in Belgrade,” he said, apparently referring to the rare opposition and independent media, which are critical of his handling of the Kosovo crisis and his increasingly autocratic policies.
Nevertheless, he said that he is currently negotiating with European Union and U.S. mediators “on preserving peace and finding a compromise solution” for the current crisis.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic on Tuesday refused to comment on claims that Serbia had sent into Kosovo a number of armed men who are probably manning the barricades.
“I will not discuss that with you,” she said when asked by a reporter if she knows whether “Serbia’s armed forces” were currently present in Kosovo.
Kosovo officials have accused Vucic of using Serbia’s state media to stir up trouble and trigger incidents that could act as a pretext for an armed intervention in the former Serbian province.
Petar Petkovic, a Serbian government official in charge of contacts with Kosovo Serbs, told Serbian state television RTS that the combat readiness of Serb troops was introduced because Kosovo had done the same thing. Kosovo officials have denied that the country has raised its security alert levels.
Petkovic claimed that heavily armed Kosovo units want to attack Kosovo Serbs, including “women, the elderly, children, men. Our people who at the barricades are just defending the right to live.”
Kosovo has asked NATO-led peacekeepers stationed there to remove the barriers and hinted that Pristina’s forces will do it if the KFOR force doesn’t react. About 4,000 NATO-led peacekeepers have been stationed in Kosovo since the 1999 war, which ended with Belgrade losing control over the territory.
Any Serbian armed intervention in Kosovo would likely result in a clash with NATO forces and would mean a major escalation of tensions in the Balkans, which are still reeling from the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Tensions between Kosovo, which declared independence after a war in 2008, and Serbia have reached their peak over the past month. Western attempts to reach a negotiated settlement have failed, with Serbia refusing to recognize Kosovo’s statehood.
KFOR and the EU have both asked Pristina and Belgrade to show restraint and avoid provocations.
Kosovo remains a potential flashpoint in the Balkans years after the 1998-99 Kosovo war that ended with a NATO intervention that pushed Serbian troops out of the former Serbian province.
BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbs on Tuesday erected more roadblocks in northern Kosovo and defied international demands to remove those placed earlier, a day after Serbia put its troops near the border on a high level of combat readiness.
The new barriers, made of laden trucks, were put up overnight in Mitrovica, a northern Kosovo town divided between Kosovo Serbs and ethnic Albanians, who represent the majority in Kosovo as a whole.
It is the first time since the recent crisis started that Serbs have blocked streets in one of the main towns. Until now, barricades had been set on roads leading to the Kosovo-Serbia border.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he ordered the army’s highest state of alert to “protect our people (in Kosovo) and preserve Serbia.”
He claimed that Pristina is preparing to “attack” Kosovo Serbs in the north of the country and remove by force several of the roadblocks that Serbs started putting up 18 days ago to protest the arrest of a former Kosovo Serb policemen.
Kosovo officials have accused Vucic of using his state media to stir trouble and trigger incidents that would act as a pretext for an armed intervention in the former Serbian province.
Petar Petkovic, a Serbian government official in charge of contacts with Kosovo Serbs, told the Serbian state RTS TV that the combat readiness of Serb troops was introduced because Kosovo had done the same thing.
He claimed that heavily armed Kosovo units want to attack the Kosovo Serbs “with the intention of attacking our women, the elderly, children, men. Our people who at the barricades are just defending the right to live.”
Kosovo has asked NATO-led peacekeepers stationed there to remove the barricades and hinted that Pristina’s forces will do it if the KFOR force doesn’t react. Some 4,000 NATO-led peacekeepers have been stationed in Kosovo since the 1999 war that ended with Belgrade losing control over the territory.
Any Serbian armed intervention in Kosovo would likely result in a clash with NATO forces and would mean a major escalation of tensions in the Balkans, which are still reeling from the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Tensions between Kosovo, which declared independence after a war in 2008, and Serbia have reached their peak over the past month. Western attempts to reach a negotiated settlement have failed, with Serbia refusing to recognize Kosovo’s statehood.
KFOR and the European Union have both asked Pristina and Belgrade to show restraint and avoid provocations.
Kosovo remains a potential flashpoint in the Balkans years after the 1998-99 Kosovo war that ended with a NATO intervention that pushed the Serbian troops out of the former Serbian province.
BELGRADE, Serbia — A freight train carrying ammonia derailed in eastern Serbia on Sunday, sickening dozens of people and closing a main international highway, officials said.
A state of emergency was declared in the town of Pirot, with authorities telling residents not to leave their homes. Dozens of people were hospitalized, Serbian state media reported.
Because of limited visibility reportedly caused by the leak, several cars crashed on the main highway that leads to Bulgaria at a time of busy traffic because of the Christmas holidays.
Police closed the highway and redirected traffic to local roads. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the train to derail.
Ammonia gas leaks can be flammable and can cause serious injury or even death.
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo police and the local media on Sunday reported explosions, shooting and road blocks overnight in the north of the country, where the population is mostly ethnic Serb, despite the postponement of the Dec. 18 municipal election the Serbs were opposed to. No injuries have been reported.
The European Union rule of law mission, known as EULEX, also reported that “a stun grenade was thrown at an EULEX reconnaissance patrol last night,” causing no injury or material damage.
EULEX, which has some 134 Polish, Italian and Lithuanian police officers deployed in the north, called on “those responsible to refrain from more provocative actions” and said it urged the Kosovo institutions “to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Unidentified masked men were seen on the Serb barricades that were blocking main roads leading to the border with Serbia, as Kosovo authorities closed two border crossings to all traffic and pedestrians.
On Sunday morning, the situation was calm, but with an increased presence of Kosovar Albanian police in the areas with a mixed population in the north, and more international police and soldiers elsewhere.
Recent tensions remain high, with Serbia and Kosovo intensifying their exchange of words.
Serbia’s president on Saturday said he would formally request permission from the NATO-led KFOR mission in Kosovo to deploy Serbian troops in northern Kosovo, while conceding this was most unlikely to be granted.
Recent tensions remain high, with Serbia and Kosovo intensifying their exchange of words.
Serbia’s president on Saturday said he would formally request NATO permission to deploy Serbian troops in northern Kosovo, while conceding this was most unlikely to be granted.
Serbian officials claim a U.N. resolution that formally ended the country’s bloody crackdown against majority Kosovo Albanian separatists in 1999 allows for some 1,000 Serb troops to return to Kosovo. NATO bombed Serbia to end the war and push its troops out of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008.
The NATO-led peacekeepers who have been working in Kosovo since the war would have to give a green light for Serb troops to go there, something that’s highly unlikely because it would de-facto mean handing over security of Kosovo’s Serb-populated northern regions to Serbian forces, a move that could dramatically increase tensions in the Balkans.
“We do not want a conflict. We want peace and progress but we shall respond to aggression with all our powers,’ Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti posted on social media.
Kurti told the European Union and the United States that not denouncing such violence, which he said was orchestrated by Belgrade, “would push it destabilize Kosovo.”
Tension in the north has been high this week ahead of the polls initially planned for Dec. 18. They have now been postponed to April 23 in an attempt to defuse the situation.
The election was due after ethnic Serb representatives resigned their posts in November to protest a decision by Kosovo’s government to ban Serbia-issued vehicle license plates.
Serb lawmakers, prosecutors and police officers also abandoned local government posts.
Tensions have been high in Kosovo ever since it proclaimed independence from Serbia, despite attempts by the European Union and U.S. officials to defuse them. Serbia, supported by its allies Russia and China, has refused to recognize Kosovo’s statehood.
Both Serbia and Kosovo want to join the EU but Brussels has warned they must resolve their dispute and normalize relations to be eligible for membership in the bloc.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the NATO-led mission in Kosovo “remains vigilant.”
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Semini reported from Tirana, Albania; Dusan Stojanovic contributed from Belgrade.
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Follow Llazar Semini at https://twitter.com/lsemini
